Sooooo, things are still strained AF between costars/rumored exes Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett, just in case you needed an update on the subject. To recap, Olivia and Joshua reportedly dated after meeting on the set of Disney+’s High School Musical: The Musical: The Series and their breakup is widely believed to be the inspo behind Olivia’s breakout hit, “Drivers License.”
In a new interview with GQ magazine, Joshua opened up about the dark side of inspiring a breakup bop (or even just having everyone on the internet believe you inspired it, since Olivia has never *officially* confirmed that the track is about him).
“I would see TikToks with like 50 million views and 10 million likes saying, ‘If I ever see that kid on the street, I’m going to f*cking kill him.’ It’s hard to see that and then be living in New York and walking down the street,” he said, adding that he’s made a lot of changes to how he lives his life day-to-day to cope with the intense scrutiny he’s been under this year. “… I feel like a lot of this last year people haven’t seen me as a human being.”
While Joshua didn’t go so far as to confirm that “Drivers License” is definitely about him, he did make it clear that he’s had to live life as though it is, saying that it “felt like a losing battle” at the height of the media frenzy about the song and that trying to defend himself has felt “impossible.”
As for how things are between him and Olivia these days, he said that he’s tried to reach out to her, but that she “hasn’t spoken to me since ‘Drivers License’ came out.” Of course, not having a conversation with Olivia isn’t exactly the same as not hearing from her, considering the slew of hits from her debut album, Sour, that have been dominating the radio throughout 2021.
“I would be on my way to sessions and I would hear two songs on the same station in one Uber ride,” he said before sharing a story about an experience at a coffee shop over the summer where the employees played Olivia’s songs back-to-back until he left.
While Joshua didn’t address any of the heart-wrenching details from “Drivers License” (like speculation that the “blonde girl” referenced in the song is Sabrina Carpenter, who he reportedly dated after Olivia), he did make a point to stress the importance of the timeline when considering the whole drama.
“People don’t realize how long ago that was,” he said in what GQ said seemed to be a reference to his relationship with Olivia. “It’s not as recent as it seems. I’m a completely different person now….I’m not here to expose people. It was eating me alive, and I couldn’t keep it in anymore.”
All of the “Drivers License” drama seems to have soured (pun absolutely intended) Joshua on romance for the time being.
“No, I’m not at the moment,” he said when asked if he was open to finding love rn. “Ultimately, being in a relationship is a responsibility. I don’t know if I’m ready for that. I’ve only had three [relationships], despite what it seems.” He added that his dating life is currently “non-existent,” but that that’s a good thing.
“I think that’s something that’s been good about this last little bit: I’m good on my own,” he said. “I don’t need somebody else.”
FWIW though, Joshua did recently drop three new tracks (“Crisis,” “Secret,” and “Set Me Free”) that *seem* to be about the Olivia drama. So there’s that.
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