Disney star Joshua Bassett was put on the spot in an awkward viral interview in which he was forced to choose between Olivia Rodrigo’s song ‘Drivers License’ and Sabrina Carpenter’s song ‘Skin.’
‘Driver’s License’ became an overnight sensation and broke numerous streaming records in January, and while the song itself is a heartwrenching breakup anthem, many believe it also touches on real events from Olivia Rodrigo‘s life.
Joshua Bassett is very strongly rumored to be the subject of the song by Olivia Rodrigo, who played his love interest on High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. Fans theorized that it referenced a possible break up between the two in real life.
Olivia’s hit single Driver’s License became an overnight sensation
Many fans also believed that the “blonde girl” referred to in the song was Sabrina Carpenter, a former Disney star who had recently gotten close to Joshua Bassett. Sabrina’s own song titled ‘Skin,’ released shortly after, had lyrics that seemed to indicate that it was a response.
Sabrina sings, “maybe you didn’t mean it, maybe “blonde” was the only rhyme,” in a potential reference to the iconic “you’re probably with that blonde girl,” line from ‘Drivers License’. However, Sabrina has since denied that this was directed at Olivia.
Joshua briefly addressed the situation for the first time on TikTok in a reaction to a sketch on Saturday Night Live in which they celebrated how viral the song became, while also briefly mentioning Joshua. In his TikTok, the actor simply looked directly at the camera appearing defeated and he added “dream come true?” in the description.
However, it was only a matter of time before Joshua Bassett was required to speak further on the drama, and in an interview with PopBuzz on Monday, March 8 the unsuspecting actor was asked to choose between both songs. At first, the interviewer told Josh the interview would be in his hands – he must pick a category, and then he’d be asked a question based on that category.
However, the songs were actually categories themselves, meaning he was unable to dodge the question. Joshua was clearly taken aback and awkwardly responded “man, you’re coming at it.” He took a long time to answer, appearing to almost say ‘Skin’ a few times before eventually settling on ‘Drivers License.’
To his relief, the next questions avoided the drama altogether. But for some, his agonizing over which song to pick was enough to cause a stir, with several people writing “as he should!” in the comments, or considering what the backlash might have been if he picked the other option.
Despite this brief reaction, Joshua still hasn’t given any full details of his possible involvement and certainly doesn’t seem like he wants to share his real thoughts any time soon.