Initially, it is important to understand who Olivia and Joshua are.
Who is Olivia Rodrigo?
Olivia Rodrigo (19) is a teen Disney star. In 2019, she became one of the protagonists of the new Disney+ series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, playing Nini and having Ricky (Joshua Bassett) as her love interest. At the time, Olivia was not single; she was dating actor Ethan Wacker, but it didn’t take long for that relationship to end.
The singer’s first single, drivers license, released in early 2021, marked the burst of her music career, going viral on TikTok and reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, Australia, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Olivia Rodrigo also set Spotify’s record for daily streams of the same song, with 17 million plays in 24 hours. At the end of May, the singer released her debut studio album titled Sour, bringing more hits like good 4 u, deja vu and traitor, which charted in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 in second, third and ninth place, respectively. As if that wasn’t enough, the other eight songs on Sour that didn’t make the top ten debuted in the Top 30 of the hits chart. On digital platforms, the album was the fastest to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify in 2021, surpassing Justin Bieber’s previous achievement. In addition, the artist also continued to participate in Disney+’s High School Musical: The Series: The Musical in its second and third seasons, although with less screen time than in its debut.
In addition to great records on digital platforms, the singer won numerous awards due to the album, including 3 Grammys, one of them being Best New Artist. In early December 2021, the singer announced a world tour of her debut album Sour. The newest pop star has performed around 50 shows in theaters across North America and Europe.
Who is Joshua Bassett?
Joshua Bassett (21) started in theater at age 8, and 10 years later he would never have imagined the fame his role in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series would bring him. In addition to acting, Joshua enjoys making music. The musician performed and composed songs for the series, as well as having some independently released singles, such as Anyone Else, Lie Lie Lie and Secret.
In early 2021, Joshua tells about a nervous breakdown that made him stop in the hospital due to heart failure. Many believe that the stress was caused after the release of his single Lie Lie Lie, which would be a response to Olivia’s album, when the singer received a lot of hate. Joshua made a post on his instagram telling what happened and talking, in addition to physical health, for everyone to take care of their mental health.
Ok, but what happened between Olivia and Joshua?
Joshua Bassett and Olivia Rodrigo met while starring in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series and, supposedly, fell in love while filming it, but never publicly admitted they were in a relationship. Time passed and apparently the two ended what existed between them. Some time later, the intrigues began.
Olivia decided to tell, enigmatically, everything she went through with the boy when she released her song drivers license, and that was the starting point of the whole conflict. In the song, people understood that she and Joshua actually dated but that, according to the lyrics, he would have dumped Olivia for a blonde.
The blonde in question is Sabrina Carpenter, who during the quarantine was spotted several times with Joshua. The love triangle was done, and now the 3 singers would rock the internet with songs throwing shades at each other. When everyone seemed to have some doubts about the lyrics of Olivia’s hit, Joshua released his solo song, titled Lie Lie Lie, and then it kind of confirmed everything.
Not only did Joshua’s music seem to be a response to drivers license, but the clip has exact references to Olivia’s video, such as him lying on the hood of a car, or on the steering wheel of the vehicle, which made many fans believe the song was really for her.
Now, what are the news between Olivia and Joshua?
In July of this year, Olivia and Joshua met again at the premiere of the third season of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. To everyone’s surprise, the two greeted each other and posed for photos with smiles on their faces and in a friendly atmosphere, after a whole year of confusion and indirection through music.
In October, less than a month after releasing the Sad Songs In A Hotel Room EP, Joshua began a release of new music. To Hype Magazine, the interpreter of Ricky said that he chose to announce new songs to feel inspired at the end of the summer. “It felt urgent to release new music to the world,” he said of the first one, would you love me now?.
The lyrics of the project’s first song show how, even after heartbreak and distance, there are certain people you’ll always ask yourself “What if we tried again?”, Joshua explained. Other excerpts also brought more evidence of the famous traitor’s regret:
“I never wrote the letter that I swore I’d send/ I never got to tell you what I really meant/ I’m passing Pasadena, do you still live in LA ?/ ‘Cause I can’t help but think of all the things that I would say/ If I showed up at your doorstep/ Would you turn me away? Oh/ Or would you care to see a stranger/ Whose eyes are still the same?”
“would you love me now?” – Joshua Bassett
In addition to Olivia having lived in Pasadena in recent years, in another part of the song he quotes: “And I’ve still got the Converse that I wore the day we met”, sneakers which the singer wore when he met the pop star, at an awards show before the series, and also behind the scenes of the video for would you love me now?.
In the song i’m sorry, Joshua says:
“I thought about what I would say/ But I’m two years too late/ I can’t imagine how you’re doing these days/ Sure it wasn’t perfect back then/ I’ll be the first to admit/ But it was better than being strangers again”
“i’m sorry” – Joshua Bassett
The singer refers to the year 2020, the supposed time when he would have ended his relationship with Olivia and began to go out with Sabrina Carpenter. Joshua still remembers how they weren’t perfect at the time of their relationship, something already mentioned by the Grammy-winner singer in her album. He still remembers the estrangement and loss of contact between the two on the recording of the second season of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.
And finally, in Different, Joshua talks about an old relationship that is back:
“Darling, how I missed you/ Two years, not even friends/ And I’m trying not to kiss you/ ‘Cause we’ve seen how this can end/ And my therapist would kill me/ If she knew that I was here/ But no one knows me like you know me, dear/ And no one holds me how you hold me, dear“
“Different” – Joshua Bassett
The return of the relationship between the stars became even stronger after being mentioned once again the lack of contact between them in the last two years, in addition to the similarity of the lyrics with the hit drivers license, in which she says “Cause they’ll never know you the way that I do”.
He reaffirms the reconciliation in the excerpts:
“I’m back in your arms/ But everything’s changed/ Now we’ve been to hell and back again/ My biggest regret/ Was walking away/ I’m not gonna make the same mistake/I know you’re afraid/ We’ll end up the same/ And the truth is, we might/ But if we do this thing right/ Maybe this time, it’ll be different”
“Different” – Joshua Bassett
The singer makes reference to the hell they lived through conflicts and rumors about a love triangle, but after returning to his beloved’s arms, he guarantees that this time he will not make the same mistake.
In another recent interview, Joshua claims that his recent songs are very honest, personal and speak to another chapter in a complicated love story. Would this be the story we know with the album Sour? By the way, good 4 them!!!
————————-
The article above was edited by Juliana Sanches.
Liked this type of content? Check Her Campus Cásper Líbero for more!