You may be familiar with Olivia Rodrigo after she starred in the hit Disney+ series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, but she’s now ready to introduce herself as a singer-songwriter. The Seventeen year old has just dropped her debut single ‘drivers licence’, and it’s a mature unravelling of vulnerability that will have you immediately captivated.
Exploring the complexities of heartbreak, she uses this song to express her confusion of the process as she finds herself achingly saying goodbye to this person and having to find a way to resume normality. And for anyone that has been through a painful heartbreak, you will be immediately feeling every emotion with her. She tells this story by detailing how getting her drivers license reminded her of the time with them as she dreamt about driving together, and now she’s just driving the streets alone.
“And I know we weren’t perfect but I’ve never felt this way for no one. And I just can’t imagine how you could be so okay, now that I’m gone. I guess you didn’t mean what you wrote in that song about me. Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street” she honestly and emotionally sings.
Sonically the song remains in a stripped back ballad format with just a piano, simplistic handclaps and atmospheric pop production creating this very tender and cinematically inclined moment. It’s very intimately reminiscent of Gracie Abrams’ recent material, with the cinematic flair of Taylor Swift, and the lyrical transparency of Julia Michaels.
‘drivers license’ is a very strong debut for Olivia Rodrigo that will have you immediately captivated and feeling the emotional heaviness even if you aren’t heartbroken at the current moment.