The song is known for its minimalistic lyrics, that consist only of: "They only want you when you're seventeen / When you're twenty-one, you're no fun / They take a Polaroid and let you go / Say they'll let you know, so come on".

The music video of "Seventeen" featured the band playing the song in a special black room, that includes some neon lights.

In the grey room is a weighing scale, a telephone and a stand with an old television and another device that looks like a VCR.

Mira Aroyo and Helen Marnie are in front of the black room near that window, and Daniel Hunt and Reuben Wu are in the back.

The video starts with a group of schoolgirls and a professor entering the grey room from a long lobby.