Seventeen, I can't recall a thing
A cry for help, but no one's ever listenin'
My life moved faster than the speed of sound
Wish I could go there now and slow down
[Verse 2]
Ain't it strange, how people tend to change?
I hope she knows that I would never blame her
'Cause all she did was all she knew (Aah)
[Pre-Chorus]
Oh, is it too late now to slow down?
[Chorus]
All my life, I've never had the chance
To stop and smell the flowers (Flowers)
All this time, I never got to sit
And dream away the hours
No memories like black and white TV
And everybody says it'll be okay
Like life is just a game
But I don't wanna play
[Verse 3]
Twenty-one, it should've been so fun
Cherry ripe, I wish I had more time
This summer skin, it fades too quick somehow (Aah)
Oh, is it too late now to slow down?
[Chorus]
All my life, I've never had the chance
To stop and smell the flowers (Flowers)
All this time, I never got to sit
And dream away the hours
No memories, like black and white TV
And everybody says it'll be okay
Like life is just a game
But I don't wanna play
[Outro]
Ooh, oh-oh
Ooh, ooh, ooh
I don't wanna
Ooh, ooh, ooh
I don't wanna
About
“17”, the fourth track on Silence Between Songs, has Beer referencing her own life and the stress she was put under when she was 17 years old.
The singer was signed to Island Records at age 13 after Justin Bieber discovered her singing Etta James on YouTube and tweeted about her. Later Beer was dropped by the label at age 16.
I felt like I had failed. Especially at 16-years-old, obviously, it feels like everything is the end of the world, so it just felt like everyone had given up on me. It really hurt and discouraged me in a lot of ways.
— via YouTube.
This song references “Dear Society” with using the ages “17” and “21”:
“Been 21 since 17, thanks to all the magazines”
I would say 17 to 21 were some of the hardest years of my life, so yeah, I decided to write about that.
— via Stories Between Songs.
The track was first teased in a Twitter Space.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
So this song was written about trauma, just kidding. I would say 17 to 21, which is the other age I reference in this song, were some of the hardest years of my life. So yeah, I decided to write about that. […] A lot of people pointed this out and noticed this, but I say the same two ages in this song as I do in my song “Dear Society”. I say in “Dear Society”, “Been 21 since 17”, and in this song “17”, the only two ages I talk about are 21 and 17. […] There are like a lot of callbacks and references to my own music, I do that a lot. […] Also, something I wanted to make kind of clear in this song was like always prefacing the chorus with like, “I hope she knows I wouldn’t blame her”, ‘cause I think it’s important to give your younger self as much empathy as possible. ‘Cause obviously I was only doing the best I could at the time with like the tools I was given. So I kind of try to make that also clear. Like, I hope she knows I never blame her. Even though, I can look back and feel sad about certain things, I don’t blame my younger self or anything.
– via TikTok
