Olivia Rodrigo's "Drivers License"

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About

Drivers License is a critically acclaimed song by singer and actress Olivia Rodrigo which resulted in several trends on TikTok.

Origin

On January 8th, 2021, Olivia Rodrigo, known for her role in the Disney+ series "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series" released her debut single, "Drivers License" along with a music video to YouTube,^[1] garnering over 25 million views in 6 days (shown below).

Spread

The song received critical praise from critics, including positive reviews by Rolling Stone^[2] and Vulture.^[3] On January 11th, Variety^[4] reported that "Drivers License" was the most-streamed song in the U.S. on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music.

The song saw massive success on TikTok, where users posted reactions to it, skits, and lip-sync videos among other things. For example, on January 11th @victoriagarrick4 uploaded a skit to TikTok^[13] where she describes the song to her boyfriend, garnering over 3.7 million views in 3 days (shown below, left). On the same day, @karinapasternakk uploaded a video^[14] where she texts the song's lyrics to her ex, garnering over 10 million views in a comparable span of time (shown below, right).

On January 12th, @nneannea uploaded a two-part video series to TikTok^[8]^[9] where she and her friends sing the song badly, garnering over 2.4 million views on part one and 450,000 on the second in 2 days (shown below).

Falling Trend

On January 8th, 2021, @spoiledmel uploaded a video to TikTok^[5] lip-syncing to "Drivers License" to TikTok (shown below). Part way through the video she looks straight at the camera and falls backward. The camera cuts to a bird's-eye-view show of her lying on her bed, where she continues to sing. The video gained over 5.4 million views in 6 days, and started an imitation trend on the platform.

On January 11th, @purplegoosey uploaded a video to TikTok^[6] following the trend, garnering over 9 million views in 3 days (shown below, left). On January 13th, @babiefartz uploaded a video to TikTok^[7] performing the trend, garnering over 2.5 million views in 1 day (shown below, right).

Drivers License From Alternative Perspectives

On January 9th, 2021, @andimitchellll uploaded a video to TikTok^[10] singing a new version of the song written from the perspective of Sabrina Carpenter, who some believe the song is about as she is dating Rodrigo's ex (shown below). The video gained over 8.2 million views in 5 days. It is unconfirmed whether this video started the trend or not.

On January 10th, @marlowj15 uploaded a video to TikTok^[11] singing the song from "the guy's" perspective, garnering over 6.7 million views in 4 days (shown below, left). On January 13th, @stinkyasher uploaded a comedy video to TikTok^[12]singing the song from the perspective of the drivers license, garnering over 1.8 million views in a day (shown below, right).