“Oh, why are girls in songs always seventeen?” sings the Wallows frontman, Braeden Lemasters, in their song “1980s Horror Film.” He brings up this odd phenomenon that is so prevalent in media, especially music. It is interesting to think about why. Seventeen is so close to adulthood that these girls have some freedom without being actual adults and facing the responsibility that comes with adulthood. However, I believe these “girls” are given this perverted attractiveness because they are not yet adults. These writers and artists paint an image of a girl who is underage and desirable, a form of ephebophilia. I also think them being seventeen fuels this idea of women being desirable only when they are underaged — a horrible message.
In a song many of us remember from our childhood and still hear now at parties, ABBA sings, “You are the dancing queen/ Young and sweet, only seventeen.” It describes the “dancing queen” as being young and sweet. She is still youthful and charming, giving her the picture of purity and joyfulness that older women never seem to be described as having. Her being “only” seventeen years old also emphasizes her adolescence.
In another song about a girl being seventeen, The 1975’s lead singer sings, “But she can’t be what you need if she’s seventeen.” In the song, he presents this girl as a heartbreaker and someone he could be interested in while also belittling her for her age. He contrasts his interest in the person by calling her a “girl” and emphasizing her youthfulness. He sings, “‘Cause they’re just girls breaking hearts/ Eyes bright, uptight, just girls.” He seems to convey their youthful spirit and energy by discussing their bright eyes. While discussing their youthful energy, he comments that they are “just girls.” In this line, we see the belittling of teenage girls because of their age and gender while also romanticizing and sexualizing their youth.
In Lana Del Rey’s “Carmen,” she sings, “Only seventeen, but she walks the streets so mean/It’s alarming, truly.” Lana Del Rey, similar to The 1975, had a younger teenage audience, and both were famous on Tumblr at the social media platform’s peak. Even so, she discusses substance abuse in this song, showing a sad side to this seventeen-year-old. It can be unclear whether or not she glamorizes this substance abuse. However, the song does seem to depict Carmen as a girl everyone likes. She is simultaneously glorified while being very sad and dealing with substance abuse that harms her.
The more recent of these songs are written by women discussing their seventeen-year-old experiences, looking back at themselves with nostalgia, but not romanticizing their youth. They discuss the difficulty of leaving their adolescence behind and growing up. For example, in Haley Blais’ song, “Seventeen,” she sings, “Everything was lame when I was seventeen,” and in Olivia Rodrigo’s song “brutal,” she sings, “And I’m so sick of seventeen/ Where’s my f****** teenage dream?” Maybe this is reflective of the media telling them they are most significant and valued when they are seventeen. The impact is still there. If our music moves towards meaningfully discussing teenage girlhood instead of romanticizing it, we can have those songs looking at the experience of being seventeen as a girl, not a woman, and have it be okay. Songs about young girls at seventeen can be powerful, but it is all about the artist’s intentions and portrayal. They should not glamorize or sexualize this age as sweet and youthful through an ephebophilic view, but rather discuss the honest difficulties and fun they experienced when they were seventeen.