Makaylla Brooks

Professor Dunham

Eng 1201

17 February 2022

Same song

How hearing a song in different genres changes your thoughts and emotions towards the

song. With the original and the cover they both have the same concept to the song, just different

emotions shown. Almost everyone knows Olivia Rodrigo's song “Drivers License”. It was a very

popular song back in 2021, mostly played for teens and young adults and is still played on the

radio for everyone to here. People love singing covers of popular songs in hopes of getting more

views and popularity for it. No matter what genre people like singing there is always a way to

cover a song out of it. I think it gives the song a whole makeover and it can even give that cover

more popularity for its unique take on the song. It is crazy how different a song can be just by

singing it in a different genre or just putting different music behind the lyrics.

The cover song is Drivers License by Our Last Night. They are a rock band With a good

amount of popularity. This song was made a month after the original on February eighteenth.

Compared to the original song on youtube the cover doesn't get nearly enough attention but

without comparison the cover got over three million views and did really well. I like how the

band is strictly rock so they didnt change it to cover a song. I think it is an interesting thing

hearing different genres of the same song because people are so used to only hearing the one

type of genre. It really channels different highs and lows of emotions.

The cover music video does not really express what the music is about compared to the

actual video. In the original you can tell her emotions and how she felt. The way she looked and
where the scenes were set in the music video just by that you could tell she is feeling sad and

hurt. Some people could say you could connect with her through the video and feel the emotions

she felt. In the cover the emotions people feel are mainly through the way he sings. The video

just shows the band in a room playing their instruments and singing. There is nothing really

special about it except their movements and how it is a lot to take in when they are singing the

rock part of the music. If you look into it more the way he moves while he sings expresses

emotions and that could be related to the song. People express their emotions in many different

ways; you just have to be open to understanding it.

In Olivia Rodrigo's Drivers license video I like how she kept the video simple but it still

tells her story very well. Her whole song talks about getting her drivers license and her boyfriend

being excited to be able to drive with her. They broke up before she got it and now everything

reminds her of him. It shows in the video her driving through areas near his house and crying

because she misses him. I am also pretty sure the boy in this song she is talking about cheated on

her. The video really helps understand the meaning of the song. I wish the cover showed a bit of

that in their video but it could be hard to make an emotional video out of a rock song.

I will use pathos as my rhetorical appeal. This is clearly supposed to be an emotional

song no matter who sings it or how. The cover video might have more rock enthusiasts as the

viewers. For the original song I see more young women listening to that song and just her as an

artist. I do not really see the two mixing. They are both emotional songs that both have a

majority of teen female viewers. They sometimes attract male teen viewers as well. Everyone has

a preferred genre they listen to and by them listening to covers like this allows everyone to enjoy

the song. I think it is important for people to explore their music taste. When people listen to
different versions of their favorite song that might even help them realize they might like that

genre of music too.

“Olivia Rodrigo- Drivers License(Rock Cover by Our Last Night)” YouTube, uploaded by Our

Last Night, 18 Feb 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYO27D9ewTI

“Olivia Rodrigo - drivers license (official Video)” YouTube Uploaded by Olivia Rodrigo, 8 Jan

2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmDBbnmKpqQ