Shatter the Standards

Shatter the Standards

Home
Album Reviews
BLAST
Blackpolitan
Lists
Milestones
Soulpolitan
Wednesday Roundups
bmr
Words Past da Margin
Album Review: A Little Vengeance by Jessie Reyez
On her fourth album, Jessie Reyez names every weapon she’s holding over a cheating ex and won’t fire one.
 • Shatter the Standards and Alexandria Elise
Album Review: So Help Me God by Kelsey Lu
Kelsey Lu lights a match to burn off the pain and the pain stays. Their second album builds everything around the choice to keep holding it.
 • Shatter the Standards and Zaria Farah
Album Review: INFINITY SONG by Infinity Song
Four Detroit siblings busked their way through New York into a Roc Nation deal on family harmony. A 553 credit score and a homesick plea carry their…
 • Shatter the Standards and Marjani Fields
New Music Drops: June 12, 2026
As new albums and singles get constantly flooded into our radar, look no further than skimming through the release week of June 12th. We know it can be…
 • Shatter the Standards
Album Review: God Must Really Love Me by Tori Kelly
On her sixth album, made in the first year of motherhood, Tori Kelly sings about a marriage that holds, a new son, and the God she thanks for both.
 • Shatter the Standards and Charlotte Rochel
Album Review: DIRTY BLONDE by Bebe Rexha
Bebe Rexha’s fourth album hides prayers and panic inside dance-pop hooks built for a packed room. Her plainest, meanest writing about herself beats…
 • Shatter the Standards and Oliver I. Martin
Album Review: you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love by Olivia Rodrigo
Olivia Rodrigo writes love as poison in the blood and a doctor who finds nothing. On her third album, the diagnosis runs from the first kiss to the…
 • Shatter the Standards and Darryl Keyes
Why Freddie Gibbs’ “Axxtion” Is the Rap Song of the Summer
Rapping straight over Mad Cobra’s 1992 “Flex” record without touching a word of it, Gibbs spends a minute in pure pleasure mode and gives the summer its…
 • Shatter the Standards and Javon Bailey
Album Review: My Mess, My Heart, My Life. by Myles Smith
The Luton singer’s debut is most alive inside his childhood home; the love songs filling its back half could belong to anyone.
 • Shatter the Standards and Darryl Keyes
Mixtape Review: I Heard You Paint Houses by Conway the Machine & DJ Whoo Kid
Conway rhymes over beats jacked from 50 Cent, Eminem, and Biggie while DJ Whoo Kid hollers across the top. The writing makes the borrowed production…
 • Shatter the Standards and Devon Kai Brooks
Album Review: Waxing In Mecca by John Brown the Rapper & Da Beatminerz
Two years in Mickey Factz’s lyricism program, John Brown turns these beats into a clinic.
 • Shatter the Standards and Joelle Figueroa
Album Review: Fortune & Glory by Paul Wall
Paul Wall raps about money the way he always has, but the details have moved to crypto, the election, and cold plunges.
 • Shatter the Standards and Rafael Greene
© 2026 Shatter the Standards, LLC. · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture