17 is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne from her fifth studio album, Avril Lavigne. It was written by Lavigne, J Kash and Martin Johnson and produced by Johnson, Moorman and Paddock. The song deals with nostalgia, with Lavigne reminiscing about numerous scenarios throughout her teenage years, especially probably to do with her first date back from 2001-2004 with Jesse Colburn, when he was in his early 20s. Critical reception was positive, with many critics considering the song to be catchy, while others feared it was not as strong as "Here's to Never Growing Up" and "Rock n Roll". "17" is currently Lavigne's biggest-selling non-single song from her album in Asia, debuting within the top-five of the South Korean Goan Chart.
"17" received critical acclaim, with many critics complimenting its catchy nature. When reviewing its parent album, Billboard gave "17" a positive review, writing that "Avril Lavigne was 17 when she was putting together the songs on her 2002 debut Let Go, and the 29-year-old looks back on those wistfully on the immaculately-produced pop-rock track '17'. Like the Avril Lavigne singles that preceded it, '17' is stunningly arranged, swirling a steady beat, long acoustic strums and yelping vocals that reflects the mischievous glow of youth." Idolator also gave a positive review, claiming that "'17' desperately needs a proper single treatment, but maybe it would be better to wait until the spring to do it — if ever a song were destined for summer singalongs, it's this one.' Starpulse.com was also mixed-to-positive. While "17" was claimed to be "enjoyable", it was noted that it "falls a shade below 'Rock N Roll' or 'Here's To Never Growing Up'." Sputnikmusic.com commented that "17" "stays the course", when talking about the album's opening tracks, appreciating Lavigne "recalling her high school days of 'learning how to break the rules.'" MusicOMH.com offered a positive review, writing: "The choppy, Dr Luke-styled '17' is great – really, really great." However, it was also felt that "as with the two singles up front, it's impossible to shake off the spectre of Taylor Swift's recent numbers lurking in the background. As the newer, younger model, Swift simply does it better, on a more clinical level – and whilst Avril's derivative effort is one of the most joyous bits of uplifting radio pop you'll hear all year, it comes afflicted with a crushing sense of poignancy that in another age, another time, this'd be a surefire Number 1; whereas now, it'd be lucky to scrape into the Top 20." Absolutepunk.net also wrote: "The other Johnson contribution, a nostalgic highlight called '17', sees the Boys Like Girls frontman recycling ideas from his own music, but the song's small town summertime atmosphere is still nothing short of infectious." The Guardian wrote, "Particularly pungent is the clattery new-wave love song '17', which yearningly gazes back at the time she met her teenage sk8er boi." Writer Sam Lansky described "17" as the "most promising track" from the album. Nick Catucci of Entertainment Weekly described the song to be "near perfect," and had "hyper acoustic thrum benefits from a spritz of the wistful."
Chart performance
The song debuted in the number four position of the Gaon Chart, with 25,666 downloads in the first week, remaining on the chart for two months. As of March 2014, there have been more than 61,531 downloads.
