Do you remember when “Driver’s License” came out, and it felt like the entire internet was speculating about who Olivia Rodrigo wrote the song about? There were countless theories about the singer and her High School Musical: The Musical: The Series co-star Joshua Bassett being in a hypothetical love triangle with Sabrina Carpenter. It was wild, and fans were grasping for every rumor they could get. Now, with the singer releasing her latest single “Vampire” that kind of theorizing has picked up again, but Rodrigo opened up about why she can “understand it.”
As Rodrigo gets ready to release her second album GUTS, she reflected on her autobiographical music, and how people like to speculate about who the songs are about. With the release of her smash-hit “Vampire,” which includes lyrics about someone being a “bloodsucker, fame-fucker,” people are once again making assumptions about her relationships. While pondering why fans do this the singer told Vogue:
It’s an interesting thing to think about. I understand it. I could sit here and be like, ‘I don’t get why people do that,’ but I do it so often.
The story goes on to say that Rodrigo used to read Harry Styles fan fiction as a kid. Also, what she said alludes to the idea that she’s just as fascinated with her favorite artists’ personal lives as some fans are with hers.
This quote also goes hand-in-hand with a comment the singer/actress made about being in the public eye. In a surprising answer, Rodrigo said having her personal life out in public is “truly any songwriter’s dream,” noting how “powerful” it is to be “vulnerable and open.”
While the "brutal" singer has a surprisingly optimistic and understanding outlook on the public speculation that happens around her music, I’d imagine it can be challenging to take it all in.
A couple of years ago, there was a lot of talk about if “Driver’s License” was about Joshua Bassett (who ended up in the emergency room two days after the song’s release). Both of them kind of went through the ringer, with fans assuming things about their relationship as they tried to figure out if their breakup was the inspiration for some of the songs on Rodrigo’s freshman album SOUR. They both appeared in the latest season of the High School Musical spinoff, however, the “good 4 u” singer got a meaningful send-off at the end of Season 3.
While you’ll be able to stream the fourth and final season of HSMTMTS later this summer with a Disney+ subscription, Rodrigo will not be in it because of her music career. There's been no official comment about if their relationship impacted the Dinsey+ series.
Like that “Driver’s License” situation, fans are also trying to figure out who “Vampire” is about. As People pointed out, many listeners picked up on Rodrigo using the word “guy” in her latest song, which led them to believe it was about her ex Adam Faze. However, a source debunked that rumor in the same story.
Then, some fans started to think the song could be about Rodrigo’s rumored feud with Taylor Swift, as BuzzFeed News pointed out. Over the last year, news came to light about the “Cruel Summer” singer being credited as a writer on one of her songs and then retroactively credited on another. Later, the HSMTMTS star was speaking with Alanis Morissette for Rolling Stone, and she agreed that she had also encountered “mean girls” in the industry. Since this credit situation, fans have assumed things weren’t great between the two singers. Then, when Swift announced
that Sabrina Carpenter (who we talked about earlier) would be opening for her on the Eras Tour, it really reignited this theory.
Overall, there are a lot of big names wrapped up in the speculation around Olivia Rodrigo’s music, and while that must be hard to take, it’s nice to see she has an optimistic and understanding outlook.
While “Vampire” is currently killing it, the rest of Rodrigo’s sophomore album, GUTS, will be available to stream on September 8.
