Joshua Bassett's New Music Video Is A Not-So-Subtle Love Song About Olivia
He's not even trying to hide it.
Joshua Bassett’s latest music video for his song “Doppelgänger” feels very appropriate to the song’s name, because a somewhat familiar face seems to be taking center stage. On Friday, Feb. 25, the Disney star dropped the new song with a music video that definitely seemed to highlight memories from his relationship with Olivia Rodrigo — at least, that’s what fans think. Bassett’s love interest in the music video looks eerily similar to Rodrigo and it has a lot of fans wondering if Joshua Bassett’s “Doppelgänger” is about Olivia Rodrigo. The video isn’t very subtle.
The High School Musical: The Musical: The Series actor starred in his music video alongside Ciara Riley Wilson and Chelsey Amaro, the doppelgängers fan think looks like Rodrigo. Wilson appears throughout the video as Bassett’s ex he reminisces about, and Amaro shows her face in the end as the doppelgänger Bassett saw in a coffee shop that got him thinking about his ex.
The ballad kicks off with Bassett walking into a coffee shop and accidentally bumping into someone who just happens to look like an ex-lover. After realizing the mystery woman is not his ex-flame, the opening lyrics kick in, “I guess I'm not as over you as I thought that I was/ I saw someone who looked like you at our favorite coffee shop.”
In an interview with Just Jared, Bassett discussed what inspired the song and his creative approach. “The song poured out of me immediately after seeing someone who I thought was my ex at a coffee shop,” he said. “Sucker punched in the heart, I realized I’m not quite as over them as I thought, and that no one, not even a lookalike, could ever take their place.”
Bassett and Wilson even play the piano on stage together in the video, much like his character Ricky and Rodrigo’s character Nini often did on HSMTMTS.
In the video, while still in the coffee shop, Bassett reflects on special times he shared with his ex like playing music together, cooking, swimming in the pool, and drinking wine in the bathtub.
The song continues, “The truth is no one's like you/ And a heart cannot be lied to/ A lookalike could never take your place.”
In a Dec. 3 interview with GQ, Bassett admitted he had not spoken with Rodrigo since the release of her hit song “drivers license,” which is heavily rumored to be about Bassett and Rodrigo’s breakup. The actor said at the time he felt as if he couldn’t stand up for himself, “It sort of felt like a losing battle… If I try and defend myself in any way, it just felt impossible.”
Bassett later went on to release three singles in December 2021, “Crisis,” “Secret,” and “Set Me Free,” which all sound like his side of the “drivers license” story. “I finally found the courage to speak up for myself,” he told GQ.
It seems Bassett has a lot more to say about his time with Rodrigo, and he’s letting it out in the way he knows best: music.
