Who Is Joshua Bassett's "Lie Lie Lie" Really About?

Is it about Olivia Rodrigo or not?

If you have somehow managed to get through the entire week without hearing the names Joshua Bassett or Olivia Rodrigo, I'm not entirely sure what planet you're living on right now.

To quickly recap, Rodrigo released her debut single "Drivers License" on Friday, 8 January and it quickly became the biggest hit of 2021 so far.

In fact, the 17-year-old singer even set the most streams in a day for a non-holiday song on Monday, 11 January. On top of that, she broke her own record on Tuesday, 12 January by receiving over 17 million streams. 

How's that for an achievement? 

On "Drivers License", Rodrigo sings about getting her, uh, driver's license while going though a terrible breakup.

So, who is "Drivers License" about? 

Well, this is where things get a little complicated, but context is important here. 

Basically, fans believe the powerful track is about Rodrigo's High School Musical: The Musical: The Series co-star, Joshua Bassett. The pair were rumoured to be dating throughout 2020. 

Except, in August 2020, Bassett was seen having lunch with 21-year-old Sabrina Carpenter, who you may have seen in Netflix's Work It or heard on Zara Larsson's criminally underrated "WOW" remix. 

Then, Bassett and Carpenter dressed up as Shark Boy and Lava Girl and made a TikTok about it on Halloween last year. This sparked even more rumours that the pair were dating (it was never confirmed).

So, when "Drivers License" came out, stans were certain that Rodrigo's song was referencing Bassett, particularly because she sings, "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." 

Carpenter is four years older than Rodrigo and—you guessed it—blonde.

Right. So, is Joshua's "Lie Lie Lie" about Olivia? 

Like this wasn't confusing enough to begin with, Bassett has now gone and dropped his own new music video for his tune "Lie Lie Lie". 

In the track, Bassett sings, "So they told me all the things that you said/ Runnin' all over my name," and "So you tellin' them it's all my fault/ Yeah, I'm the victim this time."

Many internet investigators have quickly assumed that the lyrics are about Bassett's previous relationship with Rodrigo.

i wanna believe that joshua bassett’s new song “Lie Lie Lie” is not about olivia rodrigo... but man, the first few lines ALONE seems like a response to “drivers license”

— niks (@eunicecustodio_) January 14, 2021

It doesn't help that there are undeniable similarities between Bassett's music video for "Lie Lie Lie" and Rodrigo's "Drivers License" vid.

C'mon... they both feature very ethereal shots of cars!

In saying that, it's actually not super likely that Bassett's song is about Rodrigo. 

Some stans have pointed out that they heard Bassett sing snippets of "Lie Lie Lie" way back in 2019, so he definitely wrote it before his relationship with Rodrigo ended.

Bassett shared in an Instagram story earlier this week that he wrote "Lie Lie Lie" after "[He] found out a friend had been lying about [him] behind [his] back for a long time." 

While it's all very coincidental, it looks like "Lie Lie Lie" is probably about one of Bassett's old friends, rather than Rodrigo.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see what Rodrigo sings about next. 

Header Image: YouTube (Joshua Bassett)