Kerr Mercer - Terrified and live at The Attic

Kerr Mercer, a young Scottish singer-songwriter who is a real favourite of mine, played 3 sold out shows in the intimate setting of The Attic (upstairs in The Garage) at the end of last week. After a couple of years of solid touring; opening slots, support slots and his own headline shows, Kerr's been pretty quiet on the gig front for the last 6-months. 

The focus has been on writing and recording. Mercer released debut single Alcohol in November 2025. In a January blog I wrote; Alcohol is a belter of a debut. Stripped back, leaving plenty of room for Mercer's rich and soulful voice, telling the teenage tale of going out drinking and falling for someone.

Kerr has swiftly followed that with Terrified, that came out on Friday, hence he was determined to celebrate with these shows. Check the live performance video below. 

The way Kerr's voice rises for the chorus is spine tingling. It's quite something to see and hear this in person, when he leans back from the mic, eyes closed and just goes for it, lost in the moment. Beautiful. 

No-one loves me like you do

If perfect's real then you're the proof

I'm doing all I can to hide the truth

That I'm so terrified ... 

I enjoy following Kerr's progress on his Insta page, although keeping up with his stories can be hard at times! His humour and love for music, playing and writing comes across in every post. One story I was particularly struck by was a recent writing session with Max Martin in Sweden. Yes, that Max Martin - the songwriter/producer who has penned/co-penned hits for Taylor Swift, Kate Perry, The Weeknd ... 

Given the number of songs Kerr has been writing, I only recognised one (not including the singles) from the previous times I have caught him live. Opening One in a Million which contains this beautiful heartfelt hook.

Cause this thing about love, my love, it only has to work once

This thing about love, my love, it only has to hurt once

Terrified is set to be swiftly followed by Kerr's third single. One that has been doing well on TikTok after Kerr posted a video of him singing it in the shower, clearly loving the melodic and soulful chorus he has just written. Love Me Twice is set to come out this month. 2026 is set to be Kerr's break out year. 

Oh I'd go anywhere you are, so that you're not alone

We got something different and it just needs time

We can make this right

If you love me once, you can love me twice

There was a moving and also funny moment during the matinee show I attended on Friday (early shows are brilliant!) when Kerr asked the song to sing-a-long 'like this' and then sang. I laughed as I think I speak for most (if not all the crowd) when I say - we can't sing like that! But we sang-a-long regardless!

Mercer flirted between guitar and piano with ease, constantly thanked people for support and displayed a grounded humour that will stand him in good stead. Asking people how they found out about him, one said TikTok, another said 'yer Maw!' Brilliant Scottish humour that Kerr loved.

One song with Elton John-esque piano flourishes sounded excellent, while the trilogy of Love Me Twice, Terrified and Alcohol showed that people are really falling for Mercer and his songs. I look forward to seeing Kerr playing live again soon.