(Yes, you did read that right.)
Who are Wet Leg?
Having seemingly conquered the world with just two songs, 2021’s ‘Wet Dream’ and ‘Chaise Lounge’, asking “who are Wet Leg?” is a very fair question. I didn’t know until I saw them supporting another band and, only having the name Wet Leg to go on, it’s fair to say I didn’t know what I was in for. Despite only having two songs to their name at the time, they played song after song—they played for so long in fact that they were told they needed to leave the stage for the main act. Their onstage performance had an intensity that’s hard to match, reminiscent of a 90s Riot Grrl band, and, so, with their attitude and their brash lyrics, my interest was piqued.
From the Isle of Wight, Wet Leg are a duo formed in 2019. Its founding members are two friends, Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers, who rocketed to fame with the release of their single ‘Chaise Longue’, earning millions of streams and views when it was released, allowing them to tour with Inhaler, with just this song and another single, ‘Wet Dream’. It’s hard not to see why they achieved such immediate success with their eccentric lyrical style, such as quoting the 2004 film Mean Girls with “Is your muffin buttered? Would you like us to assign someone to butter you muffin?”. Combine this with the deadpan, confident tone they deliver their lyrics with and the playful, catchy riffs of their songs and you can see there’s something truly unique about their music. The irreverence of their songs is infectious enough to have a room full of your friends singing along.
Wet Leg’s eccentric videos help create an aesthetic that is totally theirs, abstract and imaginative, with the video for ‘Wet Dream’ featuring Teasdale and Chambers wearing matching lobster claws. In ‘Chaise Longue’, they’re balancing on rocking horses and dancing in a field, and in ‘Too Late Now’, they’re exploring Croydon in their dressing gowns and their hair in towels. It’s mix of images and ideas that seemingly wouldn’t work, but fits perfectly with the surreal aesthetic Wet Leg have crafted for themselves, with their videos taking on an almost pop art feel.
They’ve played at Latitude, toured with Inhaler and played on Later…With Jools Holland; it seems they’ve taken over the world. Now, they have two new songs, ‘Oh No’ and ‘Too Late Now’, each complete with lyrics that could only be Wet Leg, such as “life is hard, credit card, oh no, you’re so woke, Diet Coke”. Following their meteoric rise, they are set to release their eponymous debut LP on April 8th, 2022, so watch out for that.
Find tickets for their upcoming tour here on their website—you don’t want to miss it.
