Few people on Earth understand how Olivia Rodrigo feels right now; even by today's standards of viral celebrity, her meteoric climb has been remarkable. On January 7, she was in the celebrity minor leagues as the almost-18-year-old star of Disney+'s High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. By January 12, she had broken streaming records and taken over TikTok with her first track, âdrivers license,â a piano-driven power ballad soaked in suburban ennui and adolescent pain. She has now adorned magazine covers, performed at the Brit Awards, and been the subject of an SNL spoof. She was then asked to perform as a musical guest. However, most of us can relate to how Olivia Rodrigo felt when writing her first album, Sour: devastated by grief and unable to speak about anything else. âdrivers licenseâ depicted a heartbreaking separation, the outlines of which became more apparent in later songs. A gossipy real-life narrative assisted, but by no means precipitated, the song's success. (If you're curious, it's claimed to be about Rodrigo's HSM:TM:TS co-star Joshua Bassett, who has since been connected to another Disney star.)
