Who Put This Song On?

In Morgan Parker’s young adult contemporary novel Who Put This Song On? (2019), a teenage girl struggles to deal with racism and mental health issues in a small American town. Critics praise the book for its witty writing and realistic portrayal of teenage mental health concerns. A novelist, poet, and essayist, Parker’s poems have featured in several publications, including Best American Poetry 2016, The New York Times, and The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of American Hip-Hop.

The book is set in a small town in Newport Beach, Southern California, a predominantly white, religious, and very conservative neighborhood. The protagonist, Morgan, is a liberal 17-year-old African American girl who lives with her mother and father. She has her own unique emo style which her mother doesn’t approve of, but that’s just the start of Morgan’s problems.

Morgan is one of the only black kids at school. Feeling that she stands out everywhere she goes, she feels strange and self-conscious. Her parents, who don’t understand how she feels, claim she’s being dramatic. Her mother, an ex-high school cheerleader, she wants Morgan to be more like she was growing up. Her father, an ex-football player, doesn’t know what it is like to be unpopular, either.



Morgan’s main problem is her lifelong depression and anxiety. Her parents claim this is new, although they think she has always been temperamental. Morgan, however, is convinced that she has always been depressed. Moreover, she is convinced that she will never know life without depression and anxiety.

Every week, Morgan sees her counselor Susan. Although Susan is kind and understanding, Morgan feels Susan doesn’t take her problems seriously and treats her like a kid. Morgan wants to wake up one day feeling better, but she never does. Instead, her depression gets worse.

As the book begins, Susan sets Morgan a special assignment. She wants Morgan to write down her feelings in a journal each day so she can better understand how Morgan sees the world, and why she is so depressed all the time. Although Morgan thinks the assignment is a stupid idea, she decides to try it.



In the meantime, a girl from school, Meg, invites Morgan to an afternoon tea party. Summer vacation is almost over, and Morgan hasn’t seen anyone over the break. Surprised by the invite, she doesn’t want to go, but her mother and Susan think it’s a great idea. They imply that if she doesn’t go, she is not trying hard enough to shake off her bad mood. Morgan’s main issue is that they treat her depression like something to snap out of, rather than a serious condition.

Morgan decides that the easiest thing to do is to accept Meg’s invitation. She knows the other girls will ask her the same questions they always do—how she styles her hair, why she wears depressing clothes, why she doesn’t smile more often. Sick of answering these questions all the time, she decides if it is a terrible afternoon and if it upsets her, no one can make her attend another tea party.

The tea party isn’t as bad as Morgan expected it to be, and by the time she returns to school after summer vacation, she finally has some friends. Meg is easy going, but she might have mental health problems of her own. She is often extremely hyper, and she hides things everywhere. For once, Morgan thinks she has someone in her life who might understand her.



Morgan’s other new friends are James and David. Dramatic and artistic, James has a warm, loving personality. Struggling with his sexual identity, he doesn’t know how to tell his parents that he is gay. In such a strict religious neighborhood, he worries that everyone will shut him out.

Morgan understands James’s religious concerns. She doesn’t know if she believes in God, and she doesn’t enjoy religious education. She wants to figure out her beliefs on her own without anyone telling her how to think or what to feel. Insisting that she attends church with them, her parents believe there is no room for questioning God. They are convinced that God will save her if she lets Him in.

Morgan’s other friend, David, is kind and sweet. He is also attractive, and Morgan is flattered when he flirts with her. Unfortunately, David flirts with everyone, but he doesn’t mean it. He just wants to be friends. Morgan feels rejected, questioning her own attractiveness, until she recognizes that being friends with David is what she wants.



Morgan’s depression and anxiety haven’t disappeared by the book’s end. However, writing her thoughts in the journal every day helps her identify what she is feeling and what triggers different emotions. She understands that depression is not a death sentence and that it is still possible to look on the bright side of life. For the first time, Morgan has hope for the future.