HAIM's "I quit" Album Rollout, The Academy's Newest Voting Rule, And An Apple TV x Letterboxd Collab

Happy Friday y’all!

In this week’s TFL, we’re covering:

• HAIM’s incredibly entertaining rollout for their new album “I quit”

• The Academy’s surprising new rule to impact voters for next year’s Oscars

• A brilliant collab between Apple TV+ and Letterboxd for “The Studio”

• An eclectic new “Good Noise” playlist featuring 30 new songs you need to hear from this week

• A round-up of this week’s new trailer drops

• Plenty of tidbits across the entertainment industry going on and in the works!

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Thank you for being here - now let’s get into it!

—Stephen Frost

🎵 HAIM Is Nailing Their “I quit” Album Rollout — Here’s How

L.A.’s favorite sister trio — Danielle, Este, and Alana Haim — is officially back and rolling into their fourth album cycle in style. And after months of hints, some big news finally dropped this week at their hometown show at The Bellwether:
Their new album I quit arrives June 20th!

But this reveal didn’t come without some clever, creative buildup — HAIM has been lowkey running one of the most entertaining album campaigns of the year so far.

Some of the best parts of their rollout so far:

• They’ve leaned hard into early 2000s nostalgia with their first three singles. Fans even noticed the artwork for lead single Relationships seems to pay homage to that iconic 2001 photo of Nicole Kidman leaving a lawyer’s office (and honestly, it’s a perfect fit).

• They’ve naturally jumped into TikTok trends tied to Relationships — from a choreographed dance, to a viral “Why am I still in this relationship?” prompt currently on fire.

• Two more follow-up singles later, they capped off the pre-album era with an intimate Day 1’s hometown show at The Bellwether, where they debuted a new visualizer teasing I quit’s theme: “I quit what does not serve me. I quit overthinking. I quit shame...”

And with the sisters re-teaming with frequent collaborators Rostam Batmanglij (production) and Paul Thomas Anderson (album visuals) from Women in Music Part III, the 15-track project is shaping up to be HAIM’s most anticipated release yet.

🍿 The Academy’s Newest Voting Rule Might Actually Surprise You

If you thought Academy voters were already required to watch all the Best Picture nominees before picking a winner...well, buckle up.

This week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced new voting rules for next year’s Oscars — and one change in particular might shock you: Members must now actually watch all the nominated films in a category before casting their votes.

According to an Academy press release, “Academy members must now watch all nominated films in each category to be eligible to vote in the final round for the Oscars.” Voters will have to confirm they’ve seen every nominated film (either through the Academy’s official screening room or by logging when and where they watched it elsewhere) before a category’s voting portal even unlocks.

What this means for future ceremonies: This should strengthen the integrity of the voting process — encouraging voters to award true excellence in filmmaking, not just favor friends or familiar names. Long gone (hopefully) are the days of just checking the box for Meryl Streep without even watching the movie.

Big question: Could the Recording Academy be next — requiring Grammy voters to actually listen to the full albums before casting a ballot?

📺 “The Studio” x Letterboxd’s Brand Partnership Is Brilliant

One of our favorite shows this year has been the sharp, satirical dark-comedy The Studio on Apple TV+ — following newly minted studio head Matt Remick (Seth Rogen) as he tries to navigate the very glamorous (very real) world of running Continental Studios. Between trying to stay talent-friendly and fighting his own inner arthouse snob, Matt’s journey makes for one of TV’s smartest new comedies. (We broke it down more in a recent issue here.)

As the season unfolds, we get a look at the fictional movies Matt is juggling — with trailers, scenes, and posters for films “directed” by Ron Howard, Olivia Wilde, and Zoë Kravitz. The attention to detail is so good, The Studio almost feels like a real industry docuseries. And this week, Apple TV+ leaned all the way in — pulling off a brilliant partnership with the ultimate cinephile app, Letterboxd.

Fill me in: In a clever collab post on Instagram, Apple TV+ and Letterboxd dropped four of The Studio’s fake movie posters with the caption, “Coming to a four favorites near you.” For the uninitiated, Letterboxd profiles prominently feature users' “Four Favorites” — their personal Mount Rushmore of films. By posting this, Apple slyly encouraged fans to add these fake (but very real) movies to their profiles and watchlists.

Why it rocks: It’s a smart, creative, and hyper-targeted move — cementing the fandom already brewing for The Studio while organically introducing it to the Letterboxd crowd. Plus, it’s a perfect marriage: a show about the film industry partnering with the app where film nerds live and breathe.

The takeaway: When you deeply understand the world your show (or brand) lives in, you can create marketing moments that don't just sell — they build culture.

That’s it for this week folks. Let me know if you have any feedback or comments on what’d you like to see in this newsletter, feel free to reply to me on this email.

We’ll see you back again next Friday & have a great weekend!

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