“deja vu” is the follow-up single to Olivia Rodrigo’s breakout single “Drivers License” released in January 2021. The new single has been teased for several days and was released on April 1, 2021, along with a music video. Thematically, “deja vu” seems to carry on the story of heartbreak from “Drivers License.”
Olivia Rodrigo’s debut single “Drivers License” broke all sorts of streaming records since the release such as fastest solo song to reach 500 million streams on Spotify, beating BTS and Mariah Carey for the longest-running No. 1 hit on The Global Chart, becoming the first debut single to spend six weeks at #1 on Billboard Hot 100 Chart, and probably a half-a-dozen more. So, there are high expectations for her second single “deja vu” releasing in a couple more days.
In a subscriber newsletter sent out to fans, Olivia Rodrigo revealed her thoughts about the song; “I wrote this song with my friend Dan Nigro last fall and I’m so stoked to finally share it with you all. It’s a lot different than “drivers license” lyrically, musically, and melodically, which is super exciting to me.”
Olivia Rodrigo also announced her debut studio album, yet to be titled, which would carry both these singles. Album tracklist and release date to be announced soon.
Watch “deja vu” Music Video by Olivia Rodrigo
“deja vu” Lyrics Meaning and Song Review
The phrase ‘deja vu’ is that eerie feeling of remembering that the present moment/activity has occurred before in the same way it is happening in the present. In the song, Olvia Rodrigo is asking her ex-boyfriend if he gets the feeling of deja vu when is with his new girlfriend and re-doing all the things that they used to do.
The start of the song with the line “car rides to Malibu” may be seen as a continuation of “Drivers Licence.” In her debut hit, she sings about getting her driver’s license to only realize that her boyfriend has broken up with her even though they planned on taking rides together. So, when Olivia sings about taking car rides to Malibu she definitely was not the one to drive them, maybe he did.
Olivia somehow knows what her ex-boyfriend is doing with his new girlfriend. Swiftly moving on from the question of how she knows this, we can understand how hurt she can be. Olivia thought everything she did with him was special. Now his new girlfriend thinks the same. But, watching from a distance, Olivia knows there’s nothing unique or magical about what they are doing! It’s all been done before.
However, the sad part about the song is that the ex-guy seems to be moving on, despite questions such as how fast or who was responsible for the breakup. The actual sad part is that Olivia Rodrigo seems to be unable to move on and overwrite those memories she had with him.
Moving on, creating new memories, and replacing old memories with a new person is the healthy thing to do.
Let us hear what you think about this song and the music video in the comments below. Check out the complete lyrics on Genius.