It’s been a whirlwind 2021 for 18-year-old Olivia Rodrigo since she released her hit single “drivers license” to a record-breaking debut. It was a huge hit almost immediately, even inspiring a viral Saturday Night Live sketch as well. But it’s on Disney+’s High School Musical: The Musical: The Series that Rodrigo first made her name in music with fellow songwriter Joshua Bassett. Now, the series is set to premiere its second season this week.
For the 2019 first season, both Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett penned original music for the TV show, with Rodrigo writing the ballad “All I Want” for her character and the pair writing their duet “Just For A Moment” together for the season finale. Ahead of Season 2, CinemaBlend asked Bassett if they wrote any new songs this time around. His answer:
I wrote a song for Episode 1 of Season 2 called 'The Perfect Gift' that Ricky sings to Nini and then Olivia wrote a song that’s later in the season, which is by the way, one of my favorite songs ever. It’s so good. But it was so special being able to write again for Season 2, and the fact that the Disney executives trusted us to deliver songs is pretty neat.
There you have it. Look out for Joshua Bassett’s sweet original song that has Ricky serenading to Olivia Rodrigo’s Nini in the season premiere coming this Friday and a new song from Rodrigo later in the season. Rodrigo’s highly-anticipated full-length album Sour is also set to come out next Friday, but in the meantime the teen just traveled to England to perform “drivers license” at the BRIT Awards with the likes of Taylor Swift and Harry Styles in the audience. Check out the performance:
And Joshua Bassett has been writing music of his own, releasing an EP earlier this year containing six original songs. During our interview, the 20-year-old shared how making a name for himself with a separate songwriting career has affected coming back to write for Season 2:
It’s a little bit different when you’re writing for the show versus for your own personal stuff. You still try to be as honest as possible and put as much of yourself into it as you can, but I would say both of us have just always loved writing music and continue to write our own music inside and outside of the show is just a cool thing. We’re just continuing to do what we love and it’s cool we get to do it while also being on a television show.
Just last week, Bassett released a music video for his new feel-good song “Feel Something.” Check it out here:
If you’ve been following along with Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett for High School Musical: The Musical: The Series since its 2019 premiere, it’s certainly a proud moment to see each of them make a name for themselves outside of their characters of Ricky and Nini on the reboot of the Disney Channel classic.
The season will pick up with their characters after Rodrigo’s Nini got accepted to the Youth Actors’ Conservatory amidst getting back together with Joshua Bassett’s Ricky. The new season begins this Friday, May 14 over on Disney+.
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