“Being a songwriter is just the absolute dream,” says pop phenom Olivia Rodrigo in the new trailer for her upcoming Disney+ documentary. “It’s my way of making sense of the world.”
From director Stacey Lee, driving home 2 u (a sour film) sees Rodrigo retracing the drive between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City that she made countless times while recording her excellent (and spectacularly popular) debut album, Sour. The latest trailer features footage from recording sessions and stunningly staged performances of new arrangements of Rodrigo’s hit songs.
When the 19-year-old’s first single, “Driver’s License,” debuted in January of last year, its melodramatic teen angst resonated in a big way. As a radio host points out in the trailer, it quite literally became the most popular song in the world, smashing streaming records left and right. It even became the punchline of a Saturday Night Live sketch in which a bunch of bros in a bar get weepy belting out the song’s infectious bridge.
Rodrigo, who until that point was primarily known as the star of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, went from Disney Channel actress to major pop star overnight. Now, just over a year later, who among us has not scream-sung “Red lights, stop signs!” after a few too many drinks?!
As is the case for most precocious teens teetering on the precipice of adulthood, nostalgia is kind of Rodrigo’s whole thing. Based on Thursday’s preview, the documentary will spare no sun-soaked, grainy film shot of Rodrigo at a gas station or wandering through the streets of suburban neighborhoods. The Grammy nominee wears too many different looks to count, all of which are way too cool for anyone over the age of 21 to pull off—there’s a ‘90s pale blue slip dress, a leopard print beret, and tiny oval sunglasses. Basically, the whole clip looks like a high schooler’s mood board come to life, in the best possible way.
Luckily, the wait to stream driving home 2 u won’t be too brutal after all. The film premieres on Disney+ on March 25.
