In late 2019 and early 2020, Olivia Rodrigo made waves with her “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” song “All I Want.” The song charted on the Billboard Hot 100, earned a gold certification, and thrust Rodrigo onto the Billboard Emerging Artists chart.
At 12AM ET on January 8, the singer-songwriter released her first single outside of a TV or movie project.
Entitled “drivers license,” the eagerly anticipated release has received prominent playlist positioning on Spotify. As of press time at 12:20AM ET, it appears at #15 on Spotify’s New Music Friday — just two places below Taylor Swift’s “evermore” bonus track “it’s time to go.”
Co-written by Rodrigo and Daniel Nigro, the song also holds a solid position on the popular Pop Rising playlist.
Unsurprising given the quality of her soundtrack work, “drivers license” is an utterly fantastic release. Featuring conversational, bitingly honest lyrics and vocals that are powerful in both a technical and emotional sense, the song offers a resonant introduction to a surefire superstar.
In conjunction with the audio launch, Rodrigo also premiered the song’s official music video:
