Oh seventeen. That beautiful age of fear and excitement for adulthood. What else is there to do besides lie on your floor and listen the mellow accents of musicians who have been where you are? There are so many glorious songs about being seventeen and trials and triumphs that come long with it. Where to begin...
Norgaard - The Vaccines
I was introduced to this song on my seventeenth birthday on a mixed CD I received from a friend. Its cacophonous guitar chords and artfully longing lyrics resonated with me on the day that brought me one year closer to adulthood.
"Her mind's made up, she don't wanna go steady
She's only seventeen, so she's probably not ready"
Seventeen - Marina and the Diamonds
The magically multi-colored (and often multi-charactered) world of Marina and the Diamonds was revealed to me a few months before my sixteenth birthday. When I found this song I immediately fell in love with it and wished vainly that I had been a year older so that I could truly make it my own. There's a certain amount of angst in this song that only comes with being an "almost adult"
"Never felt like a princess, I used to kid myself in this dress
That it was just how things were meant to be
Oh seventeen"
17 - Sky Ferreira
Sky Ferreria had been on my radar since eighth grade and since then she has been the perfect companion through the latter part of my teen years. Who could image a better role model? With her soft-grunge vixen sex appeal, she was everything I wanted to be when I would get to be her age. I'm proud to say that when I was her age, I was too busy trying to find myself to become a carbon copy of her image. However, her emotions in this song were indeed mine.
"Sneaking out at night, she's dancing in the nightclub
Yeah she's got a fake ID, they'll never know she's seventeen"
Girls - The 1975
A colorful mess of lust and suggestive lyrics, I danced to this song endlessly during my adulthood purgatory. Oh to be a semi-happy, flirty, hopeful seventeen year old girl again. No responsibilities, completely throwing yourself into your inhibitions. Twas a simpler time...
"Eyes bright, uptight just girls
She can't be what you need when she's seventeen"
Dancing Queen - ABBA
Being able to scream this song at the top of your lungs is the cherry on top of turning 17. And I discovered it the day before I turned 18. A disco banger to blissful youth, this is the song that encapsulates what it means to be seventeen. It's a party, a last dance to the soundtrack that was your teens. Enjoy it, live it up, and be the dancing queen (or king) you are.
"You are the Dancing Queen, young and sweet, only seventeen
Dancing Queen, feel the beat from the tambourine
You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life"
