

“My entire life just, like, shifted in an instant.”Īt a shaky and uncertain time for the music business, amid the pandemic and civil unrest, “Drivers License” was released across platforms and with a broody music video on Jan. “It’s been the absolute craziest week of my life,” Rodrigo, who really did get her driver’s license last year, said in an interview. TikTok videos led to blog posts, which led to streams, which led to news articles, and back around again. Along the way, the autobiographical song kicked up tabloid and social media speculation as listeners tried to piece together its real-life parallels as if it were a track by Rodrigo’s hero, Taylor Swift. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on Tuesday, following a record-breaking first week across streaming services like Spotify and Amazon Music. “Drivers License” by Olivia Rodrigo, 17, debuted at No. The music industry’s first runaway hit single of the year is at once a time-tested model - a Disney actress pivoting to pop with a catchy and confessional breakup ballad - and also an unprecedented TikTok-era smash by a teenager. Here’s How,” Joe Coscarelli writes about the hit and the music ecosystem in which it flourished: In “ Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Drivers License’ Hit No. Why do you think the song topped the charts so quickly? Do you relate to any of its themes? Do you like it? Rodrigo, who is 17, sings about two teenage rites of passage: heartbreak and getting her driver’s license. “Guess you didn’t mean what you wrote in that song about me …”ĭid you recognize this lyric from Olivia Rodrigo’s hit song “Drivers License”? Where did you first hear it?

high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept.
