Let’s start back in November 2019, pre-covid era, when Disney first dropped High School Musical:The Musical:The series. While that can be a mouthful to say, by today almost every gen z girl can easily roll it off the tongue. The Disney series follows high school theatre students through friend and boy drama. Needless to say, the series became a huge hit, and the actors/actresses became beloved celebrities.
Fast forward to January 2021, when Olivia Rodrigo, who plays Nina on the show, dropped yet another heartbreak hit song, titled “Driver’s License.” Unlike the previous hit “All I Want”, this song was personal to Rodrigo, as it was not written for the show.
Naturally, Olivia Rodrigo and her co-star Joshua Bassett developed a friendship through working on the show together. While they played an on screen romance through their character, rumors flew through social media that the co-stars may be more than friends, however confirmation of a romantic relationship was never provided by either. Understandably, because Rodrigo is only 17 still, while Bassett is 20 years old.
Rodrigo’s “Driver’s License” narrates the end of a relationship, as she drives past an old lover’s house. The lyrics say “I guess you didn’t mean what you wrote in that song about me,” which fans are assuming is about Bassett, who released two singles, “Common Sense” and “Anyone Else,” last year.
But that’s not what all the talk is about. You see, Rodrigo’s song also mentioned a certain older blonde girl, which is no other than Disney’s own Sabrina Carpenter.
The 21 year old actress and singer is rumored to be dating Bassett, after the stars have been spotted together publicly, and appeared in each other’s Tiktoks.
A week later, Carpenter released “Skin” which seems to directly point at Rodrigo. Not as subtle as “Driver’s License”, Carpenter’s opening verse sings “Maybe you didn’t mean it/ Maybe ‘blonde’ was the only rhyme.” She also sings “ You been tellin’ your side/so I’ll be telling mine.” Fans are shocked at the sudden tension between the two actresses.
Whether this is real drama or a publicity stunt, fans can’t stop keeping up with it all, and predicting what will come next. All we can hope for is that the actors can put their awkwardness aside and film HSMTMTS season 2 soon enough!