Sweet 17

"**Sweet 17**" is a song performed by Gigi Rowe, released under her birth name Laura Warshauer. It was released as the lead and only single of her self-titled EP around September of 2008. It was also featured on her 2008 album sampler.

A remastered version, titled "**Sweet Seventeen**" featuring Roy Bittan from the E Street Band was later released on her second studio album "**The Pink Chariot Mixtape**" on April 14, 2011.

## Background

On a article regarding Gigi Rowe signing to Island Records, she mentioned the idea for the song:

*I wanted to capture that nostalgic feeling of being 17. At the end of the day, it’s a song about love: finding it, losing it, wondering if it exists or if it’s only in your head. I bring a fantasy that I longed for to life. This wasn’t necessarily the reality of my own life, but the song asks, ‘What if it could’ve been?’*
On a interview about "**The Pink Chariot Mixtape**", Rowe mentioned more about the song, calling it "autobiographical".

*I was looking back on being 17 and someone that I had really connected with. It had actually been nothing romantic at the time, but there always seemed to be something there between us. Fast forward a few years later and I randomly heard about another girl that he was dating, who I had also known from before. It inspired the song because it made me think about if different choices had been made, how my life could have been altered.*
## Theme

According to Rowe, the song is "about finding love and losing it, wondering if it was really there or something that only existed in your head.  A lot of my songs come from that in between place of all that was and all that could have been.  It is nostalgic, a longing for a time that has passed and the feelings that went with it."

## Music Video

A music video was released on October 7, 2008 and was later uploaded on December 20, 2009 on the LauraWarshauerVEVO account. The video shows Rowe seeing a couple in different places (which according to the lyrics, it suggest that her character was on a relationship with one of the involved) while scenes of Rowe touching a guitar or doing different activities plays.

## Lyrics

**[Verse 1]**

I loved a boy when I was seventeen

Had he loved me back, things might have worked out differently

**[Pre-Chorus 1]**

‘Cause I know, things go

Up in smoke before you knew they were in flames

**[Chorus]**

I see me, I see you

I see all that we’ve been through

I see us in the night-time sky with the stars so bright

I see love, I feel the rush

I know the way we could have touched

I see me, at seventeen I was a dreamer

**[Post-Chorus]**

Shine on me, shine on me

Sweet seventeen

**[Verse 2]**

Intoxicated by your velvet touch

Your honest words, your faith in love

**[Pre-Chorus 2]**

I know, things go

Swept away before you felt a gust of wind

**[Chorus]**

I see me, I see you

I see all that we’ve been through

I see us in the night-time sky with the stars so bright

I see love, I feel the rush

I know the way we could have touched

I see me, at seventeen I was a dreamer

**[Post-Chorus]**

Shine on me, shine on me

Sweet seventeen

**[Bridge]**

Sweet seventeen

Bring me, bring me to my knees

**[Chorus]**

I see me, I see you

I see all that we’ve been through

I see us in the night-time sky with the stars so bright

I see love, I feel the rush

I know the way we could have touched

I see me, at seventeen I was a dreamer

**[Outro]**

So shine on me

Shine on me, shine on me

Sweet seventeen

## Official Videos

Laura Warshauer - Sweet 17Laura Warshauer – Sweet Seventeen (feat. Roy Bittan of the E Street Band) (Snippet)
## Trivia

* "**Sweet 17**" is the longest song on the 2008 self-titled EP, with a duration of 4 minutes and 4 seconds.
	+ It is also the longest song on the audio sampler.
* In the music video, a sign reading "144" can be seen. This is a reference to the 144 Butler Drive street on Paterson, New Jersey.
	+ The street would be also later referenced on Rowe's unreleased song "*144 Butler Drive*".
* The song was peformed on early 2011 at Susan Blonde Inc.

## References

1. ↑ As a single from the 2008 self-titled EP, released on September 23, 2008 in the respective EP
2. ↑ https://skopemag.com/2008/09/03/laura-warshauer-signs-with-island-audio-streams
3. ↑ https://vulturehound.co.uk/2011/10/qa-with-singer-songwriter-laura-warshauer/
4. ↑ https://www.bloginity.com/2008/09/interview-laura-warshauer-sweet-17-talks-inspirations/
5. ↑ https://skopemag.com/2008/10/07/new-video-from-new-jersey-native-laura-warshauer
6. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpfjWGGSkxU