Not holding back! Joshua Bassett released his new song, “Lie, Lie, Lie,” on Thursday, January 14, amid his rumored feud with his High School Musical: The Musical: The Series costar Olivia Rodrigo.
Bassett, 20, used the single to call out a person who is “acting all so innocent” as they speak negatively about him. In the song’s chorus, he sings, “I know what you say about me / I hope that it makes you happy / You can’t seem to get me off your mind (Get me off your mind) / Oh, I know you’re lying through your teeth / You told them the lies that you told me / I’ve had enough of it this time (Had enough this time).”
The California native also released an accompanying music video, in which he was shown driving alone in a car at one point, in what appears to be a nod to Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” track.
Ahead of the big release, Bassett opened up about what inspired the track. “I wrote ‘Lie, Lie, Lie’ after I found out a friend had been lying about me behind my back for a long time,” the actor wrote via his Instagram Stories on Thursday. “It always sucks to hear that someone you thought you could trust would throw you under the bus when it benefits them.”
The Disney star added, “It happens to all of us, and I think all you can do is seek out people that build you up rather than tear you down.”
Fans previously speculated whether “Lie, Lie, Lie” would be Bassett’s response to Rodrigo’s hit, “Drivers License.” After the 17-year-old actress dropped her emotional pop ballad earlier this month, many have theorized whether she was alluding to her castmate and Sabrina Carpenter — a former Disney Channel actress who he’s recently been linked to.
Rodrigo appeared to reference the 21-year-old “Sue Me” songstress as she sings, “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.”
The Bizaardvark alum also seemingly gave a nod to Bassett’s song, titled “Anyone Else,” that she allegedly inspired. “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,” she sings.
Bassett told Euphoria magazine in July 2020 that “Anyone Else” is about “the ‘uh-oh’ moment when you realize you’re maybe falling a bit too hard for somebody and you probably shouldn’t be.”
Rodrigo, for her part, said that she penned her debut track while “literally crying” at home in her living room. “I was driving around my neighborhood, actually listening to really sad songs and crying in the car, and I got home and I was like, ‘Maybe I’ll write a song about this — crying in the car,’” she told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe of “Drivers License” on Thursday. “So I just sat down at my piano and plucked out some chords that I liked and it kind of happened that way.”
Bassett and Rodrigo play love interests Ricky and Nini, respectively, on High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. The pair were rumored to have dated in 2020 after filming the Disney+ show’s debut season.
