Following her massive success with her debut album Sour, fans worried Olivia Rodrigo would not return for season three of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. Luckily, Rodrigo confirmed back in December that she would return as Nini Salazar-Roberts for season three. With filming set to begin any day now, fans couldn't help but notice her co-star and on-screen love interest Joshua Bassett has unfollowed her.
Though Bassett and Rodrigo never confirmed their off-screen romance, fans theorize Rodrgio's blockbuster debut was inspired by the pair's split. The speculation about their relationship picked up again when Bassett released his own music in December, featuring lyrics that seemed to directly address some of Rordigo's tracks.
On 'Crisis,' Bassett sings about getting the opportunity to tell his side of the story: “And if you get to tell your truth, then so do I /And it’s cool if you want me to play the bad guy / But don’t you dare act like I didn’t love you / Don’t go thinkin’ that I didn’t hurt, too.”
During a recent interview, he also shared the "hardest thing" about dealing with the speculation about his alleged relationship with and split from Rodrigo, as well as what he wanted to convey in his own songs. “The hardest thing in this last year has just been biting my tongue, and sort of trying to protect the people that I love,” he explained. “I cannot explain my side of the truth, or defend myself without having to expose other people, without having to then be like, ‘well, this is actually what happened and here’s why.’"
“And so that was what was tough, is like, I don’t want to do the same thing that’s being done to me, that’s not my goal, I’m not trying to tit-for-tat," he continued. "However, you cannot ignore this very vital part of the story and hope that everything goes your way, and pretend like there’s not this other reality to it.”
Bassett also confirmed that he and Rodrigo had not spoken to each other since 'Driver's License' first debuted early last year. Despite their apparent estrangement, however, Bassett says he's not nervous to return to High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. “I’m very excited. I think we have a really, really awesome season lined up, and I think, you know, it’s gonna be truly a blast,” he said. “I think we have a lot of really great episodes lined up, and it’s gonna be, I think the most fun one yet, in terms of writing and moral and all that stuff. I’m really excited.”