Revisiting Tiffany’s ‘I Think We’re Alone Now’: A Reflection on Age and Representation

Tiffany’s 1987 hit I Think We’re Alone Now became a defining track of the late '80s, catapulting a teenage girl to pop stardom. But when we step back and examine the imagery, messaging, and production of the music video, we are confronted with an uncomfortable question: why did an industry filled with adults choose to present a barely fifteen-year-old girl in such a wildly inappropriate context? And what does this say about American culture’s historical relationship with young girls, personal boundaries, and exploitation?

In a time when we are reckoning with the lasting impact of industrial exploitation, it’s worth asking: why won’t America allow children to grow up? | Photo Credit: Be Well Editorial

A Child in Full Glam, Surrounded by Grown Men

In the I Think We’re Alone Now video, Tiffany is visually a child in heavy makeup, pulled into a shopping mall by an adult man with a full beard—immediately setting a tone that should raise eyebrows. As the video unfolds, she is at a party, being entertained by men who unmistakably have shadows from shaving. At one point, she is completely bent over an airplane, adding a strange sexualized undertone that has no business in a video featuring a minor.

When other children finally appear, they are not peers but a boy who is clearly too young to be hanging out with Tiffany at all. Yet she dances with an elderly man, reinforcing a bizarre contrast that blurs the lines of age-appropriate interactions. The entire video’s setup feels like a deliberate construction to place a child star in situations that should have raised red flags, had anyone involved prioritized ethics over marketability.

A Culture That Refuses to Respect the Process of Growing Up

Looking at American music history, I Think We’re Alone Now is not an anomaly—it’s part of a deeply embedded cultural pattern. The United States has long had an issue with rushing young girls into premature adulthood while simultaneously failing to protect them from predatory environments. This is the same culture where police officers harm unarmed Black children with minimal outrage, yet grown men in boardrooms have historically controlled the images and careers of underage pop stars without serious pushback.

Women today are openly admitting on social media that they would rather take their chances in the woods with a bear than be alone with an unknown man—and yet, some people struggle to understand why. Maybe it’s time to take a hard look at how mass media, particularly the music industry, has long been complicit in normalizing boundary violations and glorifying inappropriate behavior on a massive scale.

An Age-Appropriate Performance That Wasn’t Marketed

Years later, Tiffany re-recorded I Think We’re Alone Now with a voice that had matured naturally. It was perfect—sultry, confident, and fitting for a song about secrecy and young love. If her original rendition had been held until she reached an age-appropriate moment to sing it, the song could have been marketed to a broad audience without the unsettling undertones of the original.

The music industry had the option to let a child grow into an adult and perform the song when it made sense. Instead, they presented this adult theme to a minor child before she was ready, because in their eyes, a young girl’s marketability mattered more than her right to develop at her own pace.

It Wasn’t the Music, It Was the Adults Who Created It

The most damning part of all this is that I Think We’re Alone Now—both the song and its visuals—were not organically created by a teenage girl. Every piece of it, from the lyrics to the choreography, was shaped by an industry run by adults. These were conscious decisions, and they reflect a much bigger issue: a culture that has historically prioritized profit over protection.

In a time when we are finally reckoning with the lasting impact of exploitation, it’s worth asking: why won’t America allow children to grow into healthy adults? If we had more respect for the process of life, perhaps we wouldn’t keep creating—and consuming—art that undermines it.

This 2020 Re-recording sounds terrific, better I think than the original because the lyrics fit here voice more appropriately. Also, she's beautiful in this video—this is what a woman looks like. A female of 14 years old with a face full makeup playing dress up and singing adult topics is NOT the standard. Its unfortunate that it ever was.

What These Visuals Teach Us About Society

Tiffany’s experience illustrates how adult themes in media can sometimes align with an artist’s personal objectives. However, for many others—especially children—the normalization of dangerous and inappropriate encounters has had devastating consequences. It is crucial to critically examine how presenting such themes on a mass scale, with widespread societal acceptance, influences daily life in the United States. The ways we treat one another, what we expect from each other, and how we hold leadership and media accountable are all shaped by these cultural narratives.

Blaming a single individual after atrocities have been exposed will never free society from repeating similar patterns. As the saying goes, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere—a slightly blurred moral line in one area inevitably leads to secrets, loss, pain, and trauma in another.

In the coming months, as Sean Combs' trial unfolds, the world will likely hear even more alarming revelations about the systemic exploitation within the entertainment industry. But if we look back at the evolution of American music and media, we can begin to understand how we arrived at a place where such abuses have been allowed to persist for decades, unchecked and uninterrupted.

More importantly, we can see how the same mindset—one that glorifies toxicity and harm on a grand scale—has shaped broader societal issues. From our views on aging, value, and desirability to our standards of communication, respect for authority, and even self-worth, these cultural messages have influenced the very fabric of American life.

These are not easy conversations, but there is an increasing recognition that fun in America is often interrupted by the shared traumas within our society. The joy and freedom that should define our experiences are overshadowed by the consequences of unchecked exploitation and harm.

America could experience greater prosperity—more joy, more freedom, more health, and more wealth—if we collectively set and enforced ground rules that make the nation safe and healthy for all its citizens. Right now, we are losing out on an abundance of wealth and happiness simply due to avoidable toxicities and preventable (psychological) injuries.

Again, Our hope with presenting this series, which focuses on the exploitation of children in music and media, aims to initiate a meaningful dialogue about establishing a new foundation that not only revives the USA's former glory but supersede the old American standards that favored few and capped the wealth potential of all; Hurt people hurt people, and the inconsistent, often contradictory standards that govern our interactions have done more damage than good.

So, how can we come together, as a society—one to another, to build a society that each of our great citizens will define as safe, healthy and nurturing; If not for our children, our relationships, then for whom? And for what purpose?

A shift is happening—one that holds the potential of a golden era of abundance and wellness in the USA unlike anything modern times. But one truth is abundantly clear: the mindsets of the past cannot and will not enter this new era. To move forward, we must establish a stronger foundation—one that prioritizes safety, dignity, and shared prosperity for all.