Olivia Rodrigo
Joshua Bassett was briefly linked to Olivia Rodrigo and their relationship was the highlight of all the “driver’s license” lore. It all started when the two starred as Nini and Ricky on High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.
Fans immediately spotted the immediate chemistry. After Nini confesses her love for Ricky on their first anniversary. Ricky panics, but he eventually (finally!) reveals that he loves her too. “I love you,” he blurts out during an episode, going on to reference a song they wrote together. “I’ve loved you since the first time you picked your Ukulele and you wrote a song about clouds, a silly little song about clouds. I love you. And that night in your room when you told me you loved me, I meant to say it. I meant to say it. And I’ve kicked myself every day since then because I didn’t say it. But I do. I love you.”
During an interview with the Los Angeles Times in January 2020, Joshua revealed that the scene was entirely improvised, leading many fans to believe that his words were a true representation of how he felt about Olivia herself. “It’s funny, because Joshua was nervous about what he’s going to say, and the character, Ricky, happens to be nervous about what he’s going to say, too, so I think it played well,” Joshua explained. “It is the most powerful feeling in the world when you don’t even have to think, and it just comes through you. It was really a magical moment.”
The duo sings “Just For a Moment,” which their characters sing in the finale. In an interview with L.A. Times, Rodrigo opened up about her close bond with Bassett, noting that working together felt very natural. “I love him so much. He’s my best friend … It was like I wasn’t acting,” she said.
Fast forward to the release of “driver’s license,” which many people speculated to be about Olivia’s relationship with Joshua and him moving on to Sabrina Carpenter. While Olivia never confirmed nor denied that her song was a dig at the Girl Meets World star, she insisted its subject is “the least important” part of the song. “I totally understand people’s curiosity with the specifics of who the song’s about and what it’s about, but to me, that’s really the least important part of the song,” she told Billboard at the time. “It’s resonating with people because of how emotional it is, and I think everything else is not important.”
Even more fast forwarding to today, many fans speculated that Olivia’s new song “bad idea right?” was written with Joshua in mind, or even “Jolivia Coded” as one TikTok said. “Yes, I know that he’s my ex / But can’t two people reconnect? / I only see him as a friend / The biggest lie I ever said,” she sang. But who knows if it could be about him. It could be about her other exes Zack Bia or Adam Faze.
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