What is the Meaning of Drivers License by Olivia Rodrigo

So I will admit when I first heard this song I didn’t like it at all. I came across this song while searching the billboard top 100 songs while looking for a song to cover. It had been on top of the chart for a bit and I had never heard it before. I played it off of YouTube and it just wasn’t any type of music I could see myself listening to, much less playing.

As with most hits, they tend to grow on you. It wasn’t until I heard this song covered by Justin Furstenfeld (Blue October) that I started to like it. I’ll link the cover that got me into this song at the bottom, but let’s get into the meaning of this song.

I want to start off by saying this song rings teenage (high school) heartbreak all over it. I guess that’s kind of obvious but there are some people who don’t get their driver’s license until 18 or even older so it could be wrong to make that assumption but we’re going to anyway.

I got my driver’s license last week

Just like we always talked about

‘Cause you were so excited for me

To finally drive up to your house

When you’re young this is actually one of the biggest highlights of your life, turning 16 and gaining some freedom with your license. This makes it clear that these two had been dating for possibly a little while or have known each other for a while. The thing that isn’t clear is that the guy may already be 16 or older which is suggestive of lyrics further into the song.

But today I drove through the suburbs

Crying ’cause you weren’t around

She now has her license and the guy has obviously moved on to other things, but she had attached the event of getting her license with the visual image of actually driving to this guys house and driving around with him. These are known as word pictures, when she thinks drivers license this is the type of imagery she relates to it, where someone else may picture themselves in a convertible with the top down cruising down the highway.

And you’re probably with that blonde girl

Who always made me doubt

She’s so much older than me

She’s everything I’m insecure about

She’s well aware of where the guy ran off to after her. This could be indicative that there was some back and forth which is hinted at by the envy described in this part. This is also the part where I may start to believe this was one of those Junior/Senior dates Freshman type scenarios. If the girl is so much older than her, then the guy is probably in that girls grade. 

So much older in high school times can be as little as 2-3 years where in adult reality especially in your 30s and older, 2-3 years is basically the same age.

Yeah, today I drove through the suburbs

‘Cause how could I ever love someone else?

This screams “first love” or that this guy was the first guy she ever loved which as we all know, makes it a lot harder to let go and get over.

And I know we weren’t perfect but I’ve never felt this way for no one

And I just can’t imagine how you could be so okay now that I’m gone

Guess you didn’t mean what you wrote in that song about me

‘Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street

Maybe this guy will release the song he wrote about her, then we could have a battle of the songs. If this part doesn’t scream 15 by Taylor Swift all over it I can’t think of anything else that ever will. 

The guy went all in on this one, writing songs, flowing with the euphoria of new love, and then when that died, he seems to have wandered off to the next greatest thing.

Not being perfect potentially means they had some disagreements or disputes leading up to the break up.

And all my friends are tired

Of hearing how much I miss you, but

I kinda feel sorry for them

‘Cause they’ll never know you the way that I do, yeah

Female version of “Dean Lewis – Be Alright” anyone?

“I know you love her, but it’s over mate, it doesn’t matter, put the phone away. It’s never easy to walk away, let her go, it will be alright”

Just like in Dean’s song she vents to her friends but it has taken her so long to recover from the loss of him that her friends have grown tired of hearing it. Instead of accepting that her friends may be trying to get her on the right path and hint to her that it’s time to move on, she instead is in denial and is feeling sorry for her friends because she had some special bond to this guy.

Today I drove through the suburbs

And pictured I was driving home to you

And I know we weren’t perfect

But I’ve never felt this way for no one, oh

And I just can’t imagine how you could be so okay, now that I’m gone

I guess you didn’t mean what you wrote in that song about me

‘Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street

Same as explained above for this part.

Red lights, stop signs

I still see your face in the white cars, front yards

Can’t drive past the places we used to go to

‘Cause I still fuckin’ love you, babe (ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)

Sidewalks we crossed

I still hear your voice in the traffic, we’re laughing

Over all the noise

God, I’m so blue, know we’re through

But I still fuckin’ love you, babe (ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)

I really like how this part sounds. She’s having more word pictures of all the things that remind her of the guy. I seriously hope she seeks help or gets over him or she’ll never be able to drive anywhere ever. 

She really fell hard for this guy and is having such a hard time letting go. This is starting to push the lines of being obsessive and probably needing some mental help, thankfully that’s as far as she goes in the song because if I feel like if there was another verse or bridge we’d be hearing about her parking outside his house and watching through the windows.

I know we weren’t perfect but I’ve never felt this way for no one

And I just can’t imagine how you could be so okay, now that I’m gone

‘Cause you didn’t mean what you wrote in that song about me

‘Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street

Yeah, you said forever, now I drive alone past your street

Same as said above.

Here’s the video cover by Justin Furstenfeld from Blue October of Drivers License. If you like this song you’ll like this version it adds a different type of feel to the song.

As with all of my lyric translations, I want to know what the song meant to you or how you interpreted it, so leave me some comments below.