Tate McRae's Chart Topping New Album, Sean Baker's "Battle Cry," And Netflix's Newest Series MVP

Happy Friday y’all!

In this week’s TFL, we’re covering:

• Tate McRae’s #1 Album ‘So Close To What’

• ‘Anora‘ director Sean Baker’s “battle cry” acceptance speech at the Oscars

• Netflix’s newest series MVP ‘Running Point’

• A solid 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

🎵 Tate McRae’s Scores First #1 Album With “So Close To What”

It’s been a long time coming for the pop-sensation Tate McRae. The electric, bonafide Gen Z, and Britney Spears inspired performer made her mark in 2020 with her breakout single “you broke me first.” After rising monumentally over the last few years with her first two albums ‘i used to think i could fly’ and ‘THINK LATER,’ the “greedy” singer is finally getting her flowers as her newest album has reached chart topping status.

Fill me in: McRae landed her first number one album on the Billboard 200 chart this week with her third studio effort ‘So Close To What.’ The new album supported by its leading singles “It’s OK I’m OK,” “sports car,” and “revolving door” sold 177,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. according to Billboard. So Close To What marks the biggest debut week for a studio album by a woman since Sabrina Carpenter’s 'Short n’ Sweet,’ which debuted with 362,000 units last September.

The rollout of the album featured support by a wide range of digital, CD, and vinyl variants along with an album release event at the Kia Forum in LA, appearances on The Tonight Show, last weekend’s SNL, and Zane Lowe’s Apple Music show to name a few.

To much of Tate’s surprise, she was in complete disbelief sharing the feat on Instagram. Her pop stardom will only continue to skyrocket throughout the rest of 2025 as she kicks off her ‘Miss Possessive Tour’ on March 18th in Mexico City and spanning 80-dates across the world before wrapping up in Los Angeles at the Kia Forum November 8th (full list of dates and tickets can be found here).

🍿 Sean Baker’s Best Director Acceptance Speech Was A Movie Theater “Battle Cry”

Sunday night’s 97th Academy Awards was a truly entertaining and celebratory closer to what’s been a wide-ranging awards season. From the night’s epic performances, to Conan’s stellar and hysterical job as the night’s host, to all of the star-studded presenters and cameos (including Adam Sandler’s “snazzy gym shorts and fluffy sweatshirt”), and the night’s big winners, there were a ton to admire and appreciate for all movie fans worldwide (sans some technical issues if you were watching on Hulu in the beginning or end of the broadcast).

Leading the night’s top honor was the indie rom-com Anora, taking home five of its six Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Actress for Mikey Madison. The film’s director, Sean Baker, pulled off an Academy feat that had not been achieved since Walt Disney’s appearance in 1953 (yes, that Walt Disney): winning four Oscars in the same night. And even better for Baker, he won four Oscars for the same film (which was made from a low budget of $6 million).

During his Best Director acceptance speech presented by the legend Quentin Tarantino, Baker used his platform to give a “battle cry” and champion the power of the movie theater experience as an independent filmmaker.

Read Baker’s hopeful message for movie theaters: “We’re all here tonight and watching this broadcast because we love movies. Where did we fall in love with the movies? At the movie theater. Watching a film in the theater with an audience is an experience. We can laugh together, cry together, and, in a time in which the world can feel very divided, this is more important than ever. It’s a communal experience you don’t get at home. And right now, the theater-going experience is under threat.”

He continued to implore distributors to “focus first and foremost on the theatrical releases“ and for parents to “introduce your children to feature films in movie theaters” where they’ll “be molding the next generation of movie lovers and filmmakers” and overall to “keep the great tradition of the movie-going experience alive and well.”

In a climate where most movie fans are more inclined to want to watch films conveniently at home, Baker’s words on Sunday couldn’t have come at a better time given today’s struggling movie theater climate. There’s nothing like the communal movie theater experience and only one can have hope that this helps move the needle forward for theaters staying alive in a streaming dominated market.

Check out the full list of winners here!

📺 Kate Hudson’s New Show “Running Point” Is A Slam Dunk At Netflix

The new Mindy Kailing produced basketball comedy Running Point has swiftly earned its MVP status at Netflix. The streamer and series star Kate Hudson announced on Thursday the show had been renewed for a second season exactly a week after its premiere.

Hudson shared the news in an Instagram post in collaboration with Netflix saying, “A good basketball team owner knows when to listen to the fans. So we hear you, and so did Netflix. ‘Running Point’ is officially coming back for Season 2! Thank you so much everyone who watched the show so far! I’m just beyond thrilled because you’re really the reason why we’re able to come back and do another season. So thank you and we’ll see you next season!”

Running Point follows Isla Gordon (Hudson), who in response to a scandal gets appointed by her brother as president of the Los Angeles Waves, a storied and beloved basketball franchise that also happens to be their family business. “Ambitious yet often overlooked,” per the logline, “Isla will have to prove to her skeptical brothers, the board and the larger sports community that she indeed was the right choice for the job.”

In its first four days, the show nabbed 9.3 million views worldwide per Netflix’s internal data and leading the platform’s top 10 shows watched this past week.

Kailing also added with the forthcoming second season announcement telling Tudum, “We are so thrilled to be able to deliver a Season 2 of Running Point to the fans of the show. We still cannot believe the response from audiences — thank you to everyone who has watched! Thank you to our partners at Netflix, Warner Brothers, our star who brought this show to life, Kate Hudson, and, of course, executive producers Jeanie Buss and Linda Rambis (owner of the Los Angles Lakers and front office lead respectively), without whom there would be no Running Point.”

Also starring alongside Hudson is Brenda Song, Drew Tarver, Scott MacArthur, Fabrizio Guido, Toby Sandeman, Chet Hanks, Jay Ellis, Max Greenfield and Justin Theroux.

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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