Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘traitor’ Has Fans Wondering if Joshua Bassett Should Enter Witness Protection
Is Olivia Rodrigo's "traitor" about Joshua Bassett?
Rodrigo released her debut album, Sour, on Thursday (May 20). A standout track called "traitor" quickly became a favorite among fans, who immediately began deciphering its lyrics.
Considering Rodrigo's past relationship with her High School Musical: The Musical: The Series co-star, Bassett, many fans on social media believe that he is the person Rodrigo is singing about on the track—which also features an apparent reference to his alleged girlfriend and fellow Disney Channel alum, Sabrina Carpenter.
"You betrayed me / And I know that you'll never feel sorry / For the way I hurt, yeah / You talked to her when we were together / Loved you at your worst but that didn't matter / It took you two weeks to go off and date her / Guess you didn't cheat, but you're still a traitor," Rodrigo sings on "traitor." Listen below:
Naturally, following the album's release, Bassett's name became a trending topic on Twitter. Due to the intensity of the scrutiny, Wikipedia even reportedly locked Bassett's page so that Rodrigo fans couldn't make inaccurate edits to it.
On Twitter, one fan named jokingly suggested that Bassett may need some help recovering from Rodrigo's breakup album. "Joshua Bassett may need to go into the witness protection program I fear," the user tweeted.
See this and more reactions, below.
Bassett is also in the midst of his own solo music career. In March, he released his debut self-titled EP and has been steadily releasing music in between filming for the Disney+ series alongside Rodrigo.
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