Krista Siegrieds - 'Seventeen'

Krista Siegrieds is my favourite pop star from Finland and she is full of energy and bounce, big dance songs and a big image. But she is also capable of touching just the right nerve with her songs. I've been listening to 'Seventeen' and would put it in my list of perfect teenage pop songs that say just the right thing and sound just right.

I remember being that age - I was 17 in 1977 when punk exploded out of London, the Sex Pistols released 'Pretty Vacant' and the Clash released their first album. And a host of other things like first hearing X-Ray Spex on a 10" compilation record and The Adverts' 'Bored Teenagers' (weren't we all?). I got my hippy hair cut short in 1977. Punk wasn't the only thing going on and disco was in the air with Donna Summer ruling the world with 'I Feel Love', full of sounds we'd never heard before. There was 'Rock Follies of '77'. And of course, there was growing up, hormones raging and getting ready to enter the adult world (although I'm not entirely sure I've managed to do that yet).

I think all of that helps to explain why I love Krista's 'Seventeen'. 17 is one of those ages that matter, a transition stage between childhood and becoming an adult and our experiences influence us for good or bad. Krista sings:

When i was seventeen, 

                                 We treated every moment like it was the last 

My boyfriend was nineteen, 

I am looking at a picture thinking of the past 

Every song was the best song ever, every kiss could last forever 

Every Friday night was stunning, every heart went wild drumming 

No worries in the world could stop us, we where always gonna be on top cause 

We could be what we wanted to be 

Look at me, living for the day like a dancing queen 

Young and free, there's something in the air when you're seventeen 

There's something the air when your'e seventeen 

And wasn't every song you loved the best song ever? Nothing could ever be better than your latest favourite song. I have a vivid memory of hearing 'Pretty Vacant' on the Kid Jensen show on Radio 1 on a Saturday morning and immediately getting the bus into town to buy the record straight away. I had to.

There's definitely something in the air when you're 17...