A Review of Jackson Mercer’s New Single ‘Anxiety’
- May 17
- 2 min read
If this is the start of a new era for Jackson Mercer, we are absolutely here for every single second of it…
There is a particular kind of magic that happens when an artist strips everything back to its most essential components and makes something that feels more fully realised than anything a big-budget studio session might have produced. Jackson Mercer is that kind of artist. A pop songwriter driven by an unrelenting creative curiosity and a genuine need to turn everyday experiences into songs, Mercer has been quietly building something real through local gigs, community shows and a bedroom setup that has become his most important creative tool. With ‘Anxiety’, he steps into what he calls a new era, and honestly? It feels like exactly the right moment.
Photo Credit: Luka Wegner (@lukawegnermusic)
The song started the way the best ones often do: a guitar riff that wouldn’t leave him alone. From there, Mercer let his mind follow the thread of what else gets stuck, and landed on something deeply personal: his childhood experience of social anxiety growing up through school. It is the kind of subject that a lot of artists circle around without quite touching, but Mercer goes straight to it with a directness and warmth that immediately makes you feel like you are in safe hands. Written, recorded and produced entirely by himself using his computer, himself and his chair, ‘Anxiety’ is as self-contained and self-determined as music gets.
And it sounds incredible for it! The production is clean and modern without being cold, the hooks are genuinely infectious, and the vocal performance carries the kind of heartfelt honesty that no amount of studio polish can fake. Mercer’s instinct for melody-driven pop with real emotional substance places him firmly in the tradition of vocal-focused songwriting he cites as a core influence, but the result feels entirely his own. He has spoken about wanting to shine a positive light on difficult experiences to reach a wider audience, and ‘Anxiety’ does exactly that: acknowledging the struggle without being consumed by it, finding something hopeful in the telling.
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