Neeeeeee Ricky and Nini!
Photo: Kevin Winter / Getty Images
There is a potential love triangle at East View High School. Actress Olivia Rodrigo, who plays Nini Salazar-Roberts in the Disney + original show High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, released a new single titled “Drivers License” this morning, along with an accompanying music video. The song quickly sparked rumors about the details of her relationship with her HSMTMTS co-star Joshua Bassett. The song contains some nice point lyrics, which according to some fans are about Bassett and a certain blonde singer-actress, and now the teenagers and tweens are in a dizzy. For those of us who graduated from high school before 2008, we provide an overview.
Rodrigo and Bassett, whose characters in the series date, had on-screen chemistry and a close-up screen that led to rumors of an IRL relationship. Rodrigo posted a TikTok headline in August with the headline ‘And it’s in failed relationships’, with ‘All I Want’ from the HSMTMTS soundtrack, which Rodrigo wrote and sang in the series about Bassett’s character, Ricky. In the new track, ‘Drivers License’, Rodrigo regrets the end of a relationship as she drives through the streets after getting her license (again, she’s 17) and also mentions: ‘I think you did not mean in which you did not write that song about me ‘, which the fans assume is about Bassett, who released two singles last year,’ Common Sense ‘and’ Anybody Else ‘.
Wait – that’s not it, people. Here’s where Sabrina Carpenter – the 21-year-old singer and actress who played Maya Hart in the Disney series Girl meets the world – makes her big appearance. There are also rumors that Bassett and Carpenter went out after Rodrigo and Bassett ended it in 2020. Although they have not yet confirmed this in public, the two have been seen together and have appeared in each other’s TikToks, recently where they are re-recording a scene. of The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl. In ‘Driver’s License’, Rodrigo refers to a ‘blonde girl’ who is’ so much older than [her]. Carpenter is in fact blond and is four years older than Rodrigo.
Rodrigo announces the release of ‘Drivers License’ on January 4th, and a few hours later Bassett announces the release of his upcoming single, titled ‘Lie Lie Lie’, which appears on January 14th. in close reports, calling it “uncomfortable” and “trying to steal Olivia’s thunder.” They linked a picture of him in a car with dim lighting to the music video Rodrigo released today with ‘Drivers License’. Fans also noted that while many members of the cast HSMTMTS, including Julia Lester, Joe Serafini, Larry Saperstein, Sofia Wylie and Dara Reneé, enthusiastically commented on Rodrigo’s report, only one, Serafini, commented on Bassett’s report. Do they know more about the drama that has yet to unfold? With the advent of season two, we hope that the power of music and a dance number can restore some hearts HSMTMTS set.
Update, January 11: Rodrigo can count Taylor Swift as a supporter, who expressed her support for ‘driver’s license’ on Instagram. After Rodrigo posted about her song under Swift’s two new always Swift replies, ‘I say this is my baby and I’m very proud’ (referring to Swift’s own mother). However, this is not the first time that Swift has endorsed Rodrigo – she earlier posted support for her Instagram story after Rodrigo covered a “cruel summer” for MTV in April 2020.
Update, January 13: Before his single release tomorrow, Joshua Bassett shared a preview for ‘Lie Lie Lie’ today. With some moody guitar drums and some tracks from him driving in a car!
Update, January 14: Aaaaand Joshua Bassett’s “Lie Lie Lie” has arrived. Go ahead and try, try, try not to speculate about who is kissing whose ass is goodbye.
Update, January 15, 11:00 a.m .: Probably in the last place he wanted a new release of a single and music video, Bassett shared on Instagram that he was in the hospital and recovering from surgery. He described enduring the worst pain of his life, and without much detail, said the doctor gave him the medal because he was ‘the sickest patient in the hospital’.
In others, HSMTMTS drama-related news, fans were quick to compare Rodrigo and Bassett’s videos, both with nightmare scenes, hanging outside car windows, and all in a purple neon tint. However, Bassett only shared the song on Instagram in 2019 (below), long before any rumors about him and Olivia’s relationship.
If ‘Lie Lie Lie’ does not contribute much to the Olivia-Joshua-Sabrina love triangle drama, another potential song with Carpenter and Bassett could be possible. HSMTMTS sleuths also dug up a Genius lyrics page for a song called ‘We Both Know’, which is currently an unconfirmed, unknown song by Bassett and Carpenter. The song was released on BMI in November and will be released on Bassett’s upcoming EP. The plot just keeps getting thicker.
Update, January 22: Another week, another song release that brings the constant excitement HSMTMTS dramapot. Sabrina Carpenter abandoned a new surprise single, “Skin.” The singer and Girl meets the world actress’s song contains some very shows lyrics on Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” in this tender pop ballad.
In the opening verse she sings that she and the subject (ahem, Rodrigo) might have been friends and said to herself, “Maybe you did not mean it / maybe ‘blonde’ was the only rhyme.” You may remember that Rodrigo in ‘driver’s license’ refers to a ‘blonde girl / who always made[her]doubt. ” Interesting. Carpenter also sings “But You Told Yourself / I Will Tell Mine,” and completes the love triangle narrative between Rodrigo, Carpenter and Bassett. With all the news surrounding this drama and Rodrigo’s “Driver’s License” – which Carpenter inevitably scrutinized – she says: “You put me in the spotlight / but I’m been under it all my life.” In some of the most eloquent lyrics, Carpenter sings: “You can try / To get under me, under me, under my skin / While he’s on mine,” possibly referring to the fact that she is now with Joshua Bassett and Rodrigo. Spicy! She also teases a bit about driving with “Don’t drive yourself crazy.” Get it? Row?
Despite everything, there seems to be no hard feelings at the end of the carpenter, and in the bridge she tells the subject: ‘I just hope one day we can laugh about it.’ Yes girls, please do not let a boy come between a possible friendship, we are all better than that!
Update, January 22, 4:15 PM: Bassett today showed support for his rumored girlfriend Sabrina Carpenter in his Instagram story, with an image of the album art with the caption “stuck in my head since I heard it !!! congratulations @sabrinacarpenter with ‘skin’, the new label, and all that’s coming! “Fans of Rodrigo have quickly said that it looks like Bassett has chosen Carpenter’s side in the drama, but there is no news yet on who it is actually going out with whom. Meanwhile, Rodrigo shared videos about her story of her song Taylor Swift. I smell a Reputation era kom.
Update, January 25, 11:45 a.m .: Carpenter wants us all to be ‘lyrical’ in an open mind. In an Instagram post, the 21-year-old blonde explained that ‘Skin’ is not a Rodrigo diss-track: A few lines in a (magnificent) song did not bother me and wrote a diss-track about it, ‘she wrote a selfie. “I was at a turning point in my life for countless reasons. therefore, I was inspired to do what I usually do to handle something, write something I would like to tell myself in the past. She adds that the song is not about a specific person or event, but a combination of experiences from the past year. “I do not want it to become an endless cycle. Please do not use this as an opportunity to send more hatred to someone, ‘she concluded with a plea to supporters. Stream “Skin” and ‘Driver’s License’ for the patience and strength to handle a tabloid love triangle.
Update, January 29: Whoever lied to Joshua Bassett, here’s another song just for you. ‘Only a Matter of Time’, the second single from his upcoming EP, was released yesterday. Fans have concluded that the clip possibly refers to the allegations of sexual assault against Bassett made in June 2020 and does not refer at all to the current situation with Olivia Rodrigo. In June 2020, a 16-year-old fan named Grace claims that Bassett forcibly kissed and touched her in New York in November 2019. The allegations were made on a Twitter account that was deactivated shortly thereafter. June 24 Bassett addressed the “horrific rumor, And told followers it was ‘absolutely false’. After the release of ‘Only a Matter of Time’, Bassett shared in an Instagram story, ‘I wrote this song in the summer of 2020 in a moment when social media brought a lot of darkness into my life. It was healing to put down my phone, turn off the noise and just write. There are things that come from social media, but it has also become a place where people can say anything about anyone, no matter how false or harmful, without liability. In the ballad, Bassett sings about someone who has spread lies about him and that the truth will finally come out. As he ponders his hurt, he makes it clear that he does not want revenge, it is in the hands of karma.
Meanwhile, Sabrina Carpenter teased another upcoming song on social media this week, so we’ll see you next week for more updates on this drama that never stops.
Update, February 1: This is not a new song – it’s the ‘Skin’ music video! It’s full of references, not just with a literal car but also a Bassett look-alike (played by Chilling Adventures of Sabrina star Gavin Leatherwood). Maybe we’ll get the Carpenter-Rodrigo rap fight next week?