Taylor Swift was spotlighted in The New York Times‘ feature Diary of a Song, explaining how she wrote her hit “Lover.” Now, Taylor’s biggest fan, Olivia Rodrigo, is spilling the secrets behind writing her hit, “Drivers License” in the same feature.
In the episode of Diary of a Song, Olivia and her producer, Dan Nigro, tell the story of how the song was created, and you also get to hear her original Voice Notes and tracks of the original version, which was actually much faster than the final version.
“We liked the movement of it all but we felt like it was more emotional when it was slower,” Olivia explains.
Dan chimes in, “She came into the studio on like the third day and just liked looked at me, she was like, ‘Dan, I’m really sorry but I think we did it wrong and we have to do it all over again.'”
When the interviewer brings up the song’s original lyric, “I bet you’re with that brunette girl/the one I always thought about” — which of course was changed to “and you’re probably with that blonde girl/who always made me doubt” — Olivia will only say that she thought it was fun to get “Dan’s opinion” on “little things like that.”
When she talks about why she wrote the song, Olivia discusses “the intense emotions” of a breakup, but doesn’t offer any insight into the behind-the-scenes drama that allegedly inspired it.
However, she does reveal her favorite “Drivers License” TikToks.
“First of all, people are so talented and like all of their covers and their dance videos just blow my mind!” she gushes. “My favorite ‘Drivers License’ TikToks are the dog TikToks — just my favorite thing ever.”
By Andrea Dresdale
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