Drivers license: Why is everyone talking about another Celeb breakup?

“Love is dead,” we say, reading yet another story of a celeb breakup. We don’t know the stars, let alone have a close relationship with them, and yet, here we are mourning on social media as if it were a personal loss.

If you’ve been on TikTok at all in the last few days, I can say with near-certainty that you’ve probably already heard Olivia Rodrigo’s new single, “drivers license.” It’s the first song that the 17-year-old Californian actor and singer has released independently of Disney Channel.

The song has dominated the Spotify charts, during the first weekend of its release. It was commended by Rolling Stone last week, who said it's an early “song of the year”.

It features heartbreakingly honest and raw songwriting, something we've seen before with Taylor Swift and Lorde; it's quickly become a teenage anthem of angst and heartbreak.

On social media the response has been overwhelming; Rodrigo's song has been the subject of thousands of TikToks and tweets. Fans have been quick to analyse every lyric and Instagram post she released in the last year, to solidify the meaning of the personal lyrics.

I’m too young to know the classic celebrity breakups (Brad Pitt and who?) but they’re changing. Just last year Miley Cryus was branded by trolls for being “disgusting” with “no respect for herself” after splitting with childhood sweetheart Liam Hemsworth after less than one year of marriage.

Especially since Covid-19 with couples spending every minute together, it's probably no surprise there’s been more breakups than usual.

People get invested in these endless drama sagas, demanding apologies from the "villains", and then over analysing new Instagram unfollows and likes, which fan the flames and start the cycle again. Everyone has to pick a side.

A frequent theme occurring in celeb-breakups is the female receiving the nastiness of the spotlight. Only a few months ago, it was singleton Lily James who was branded the villain for "destroying" Dominic West’s marriage

But in this 2021 breakup song, "driver's license", the villain seems to be Joshua Bassett for breaking Olivia's heart and immediately replacing her with this “blonde girl”, his rumoured new girlfriend.

I’m proud of everyone’s attempts at empowering women in 2021 especially after breakups and I totally get the backlash that Joshua’s has received. But does he deserve it?

Is this going against the societal norms of demonising the women in breakups? Breaking up is never pleasant for anybody. Especially if you have a following; unlike celebs, normal people have the luxury of breaking up offline; there’s however no escaping for celebs who suffer in the spotlight.

Fans are easily invested in these endless drama sagas, and it's difficult not to join and feel sympathy for heartbroken Rodrigo. I mean I’ve been screaming "Red lights, stop signs" for days now.