David Byrne honors teenage melodrama with "Drivers License" cover

The former Talking Head shared a cover of Oliva Rodrigo's debut single for its fifth anniversary.

By Drew Gillis  |  January 8, 2026 | 4:30pm
Image via Universal Music
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David Byrne honors teenage melodrama with

It’s been five years since Olivia Rodrigo became a major pop star practically overnight with the release of her debut single “Drivers License.” The song is sung from the POV of a presumably teenage girl (Rodrigo was 17 when it debuted) who just got her driver’s license and is now driving around reminiscing about her ex and all the plans they had made for their future. The song was a huge hit in part because it was an experience people recognized, even if their days of being 17 were far behind them. Case in point: the 73-year-old musician and former Talking Head David Byrne just put his own spin on the track for its fifth anniversary. 

Byrne’s arrangement of the song is a departure from the production of Rodrigo’s more stripped-back, piano-forward original. The cover features syncopated, hiccuped vocals from a choir during the first verse before widening to support his melody. Byrne kicks up the tempo a bit, giving the recording a kinetic quality reminiscent of his recently reimagined work on the Who Is The Sky? Tour. 

Byrne and Rodrigo previously performed together at Gov Ball in New York in 2025, where he joined her set to perform “Burning Down The House” with her. Rodrigo shared on Instagram today that there’ll be more covers coming “from some of my favorite artists ever” to celebrate the anniversary of her debut album Sour. As for Byrne, his album Who Is The Sky? debuted last September, and he’s scheduled to spend the next six months performing across Europe and North America.

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