As we all may know the 2010s Disney Channel stars such as Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez or Demi Lovato… we may not know about the new era Disney Channel stars like Olivia Rodrigo.
The singer is now 18 years old and she’s starring High School Musical: The Musical: The series, for Disney +.
She showed the world some skills outside of musical theatre when she wrote the song All I want for the mentioned series.
Then, on January 8th 2021, she released the first single of her debut album Sour, this being drivers license.
I believe that the record label didn’t expect the amount of success for the single and later on, for the whole leading album (which makes sense because the people who loved drivers license couldn’t wait to hear the rest), but even though I’m sure there was a very solid strategic promotional plan behind the release of the song (also considering that Olivia already had a strong fanbase), there are always some “luck” random factors that made drivers license so streamed, such as a celebrity sharing it by surprise, algorithms on digital platforms, among others.
I remember at that point everyone around me was talking about this song on social media, and I’m from Spain. I can’t imagine what it was like in the USA.
But one thing has to be there when this all happens: a very well crafted record. And drivers license didn’t lower the bar. Let’s get into it:
First of all, the song starts with a car sound effect, that progressively becomes part of the intro (the piano solo) of the song. This is a very original trait and we’re not so used to hearing sound effects that obvious in pop songs, so it for sure must have been a differentiating trait that got stucked into the listeners’ minds since the first day.
As this blog is about lyrics, the storytelling of this song is something we must comment thoroughly.
“I got my driver’s license last week
Just like we always talked about
‘Cause you were so excited for me
To finally drive up to your house
But today I drove through the suburbs
Crying ’cause you weren’t around.”
Such an impressive way to start a song. So many things in just a few lines. I believe this beginning really caught everyone’s attention.
Something really important happened recently in Olivia’s life: she finally got her drivers license. On the contrary, she’s sad. She and her loved one used to dream about this moment. He was excited that she could finally pick him up. But she’s realizing now that it’ll never happen.
This expresses something that really affects all of us when going through a breakup: the future plans that will no longer be done.
Not to talk about the melodic and harmonic cadence, the verse ends with a sense of home, a sense of ending.
But the story goes on:
“And you’re probably with that blonde girl
Who always made me doubt
She’s so much older than me
She’s everything I’m insecure about
Yeah, today I drove through the suburbs
‘Cause how could I ever love someone else?”
If you’ve read my last posts, you must know what these lines express that makes the listener connect immediately….
I’m gonna give you another line to think about it…
…
Vulnerability. Insecurity. Humane relatable feelings. Honesty.
She’s comparing herself to another girl and putting herself in the worst-case scenario. Our brains really do that.
It also stands out the way she finishes the second verse: “’cause how could I ever love someone else?”
It’s a catastrophic line, but this thought comes to mind at least once after a breakup, and even long after that. So it’s truly relatable.
“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
Guess you didn’t mean what you wrote in that song about me
‘Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street.”
In the chorus, Olivia admits to be conscious of the problems they had as a couple, but she let her feelings towards him lead the way.
After that, she expresses how, by the way he’s handling things after the breakup, he seems fine, and she deduces that he must have never loved her with the line “Guess you didn’t mean what you wrote in that song about me”. This line gives us personal information about the couple: he writes songs too, so it must have been a truly heartfelt romantic relationship, which breaks our hearts even more with the thought of “What happened? What went wrong?”. And Olivia is asking herself that as well. It gives us the feeling that we somewhat know them.
The final line of the chorus is the most powerful one and it also ties up all the main topic and inspiration of the song: You said forever, now I drive alone past your street.
Future plans destroyed. There ain’t no forever, no picking him up. She drives past his street alone.
This is genius. Every line is meaningful with closure cadences in the melody and harmony. A work of art.
Olivia has cited her references when writing songs: Taylor Swift being her main one. In my opinion, it shows. Her style of songwriting is very similar (which I personally love), and also very close to the country genre. Which is the inspiration of the inspiration, but with a poppy twist.
The third verse goes:
“And all my friends are tired
Of hearing how much I miss you, but
I kinda feel sorry for them
‘Cause they’ll never know you the way that I do, yeah
Today I drove through the suburbs
And pictured I was driving home to you”
I think we can all relate to these lines as well. When you fall in love as a teenager, you hyperidealize your significant other, way more than when you fall in love as an adult. You feel like you totally know them and your friends can’t understand the way you feel about them because they don’t. They may tell you they’re tired of seeing you cry over a boy that’s been a jerk to you and you’re there thinking “they’re wrong, they don’t really know them“. Been there, done that. But Olivia even gives it a further spin “I feel sorry for them for not knowing him.” And we love a romantically dramatic hopeless queen.
I also love the way she ends the verses with the same repetitive line “Today I drove through the suburbs” (this songwriting technique is called “refrain”) but then she changes a few words every time. While she’s driving, she’s given us the information that she cried, then wondered if she would ever be able to love someone else and, finally, pictured what they had agreed on doing before breaking up: driving to his home.
Another one of her inspirations is Lorde, which can be appreciated in the bridge of the song. The bridge is basically a flashback on how everything that she sees while driving reminds her of him.
“Red lights, stop signs
I still see your face in the white cars, front yards
Can’t drive past the places we used to go to
‘Cause I still fuckin’ love you, babe (ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)
Sidewalks we crossed
I still hear your voice in the traffic, we’re laughing
Over all the noise
God, I’m so blue, know we’re through
But I still fuckin’ love you, babe”
Because of the music production (vocal layers, bass, long reverbs, choirs…) and songwriting (describing memories through enumerating) of this part, it makes the listener feel like she’s almost hallucinating about the past, the image the music paints is blurry, but the emotional thermometer is high in lines like “Can’t drive past the places we used to go to” and “I still hear your voice in the traffic, we’re laughing over all the noise” to finish up with her realizing how f*ucked up she’s feeling: “God, I’m so blue, know we’re through, BUT I STILL F*CKING LOVE YOU BABE”
I needed to put it in capital letters because: what a cathartic line to SCREAM at the top of our lungs!!!
I truly believe that what made the song so lovable for so many is, without a doubt, the relatable and meaningful lyrics.
But if I had to choose something that makes this song (a bit) different and original from the mass of pop songs that are released everyday is the structure. Not only because it doesn’t have a defined or obvious pre-chorus, which is rare in pop; but also, as I pointed out before about the melodies, each verse ends with a strong line that feels like that part is ending, also called punchlines, both for the music and the lyrics. It gives us the vibe that she’s not singing a pop song; she’s telling her heartbreak story: describing every detail and sensationally linking concepts to the main idea of the song, Olivia’s drivers license.
If you’d be interested in hearing more about the composition of the melodic lines and the music production, let me know and I’ll write a part 2 of this post!!!
lyrics by laura 