You’ve been listening to Olivia Rodrigo’s breakthrough hit “Drivers License” so much that at this point it should probably just be our National Anthem.
But in case you just haven’t gotten enough of the High School Musical: The Musical: The Series star’s inescapable winter No. 1, Rodrigo is here with a behind-the-scenes clip chronicling the shoot for the track’s official video that will give you some insight into what it took to film the visual, which has racked up nearly 78 million views to date.
The BTS opens with always-bubbly Olivia inviting us to the set as footage of the crew setting up in various locations unspools and the star gets her makeup done with a mask resting just below her chin. “I’m pinching myself. I cannot believe that this is all happening,” says Rodrigo, standing in front of the lovely mid-century modern home that ended up serving as the main location after director Matthew Dillon Cohen spotted it on a drive through the neighborhood.
“He literally just knocked on the door and the people were like, ‘Yeah! You can come film in our home,'” she says of the remarkably easy process of locking down the house for the video that she revealed was shot on film. It was doubly awesome because that style of architecture is totally Olivia’s favorite, so the whole shoot made her feel like she’d stepped onto the set of some killer HGTV makeover show. “It’s so sick,” she is heard saying as she walks through the kitchen with a masked Cohen as they survey the scene.
She also revealed the the shots with the projections of words featured footage she filmed on her iPhone with some friends, thinking that they would be cool to “signify, like, the memories that keep running through this girl’s head as she’s going through this heartbreak.” And you might not have noticed since she’s wearing short sleeves a lot, but it was freezing on the set and she seriously considered stealing the dream vintage Mercedes she drives in the video because that’s her all-time favorite ride.
“I just wanted it to kind of capture the feeling of teenage heartbreak in the suburbs, which has kind of been my experience,” she says.
“Drivers License” has topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks so far, marking the 17-year-old’s first No. 1 to date.
Watch the BTS “Drivers License” video below.