British Duo Wet Leg Turns an Ex’s “Wet Dream” Into a Dance-Punk Anthem

The British duo Wet Leg won a GRAMMY for their first single “Chaise Longue” after the song went viral in 2021. It was the kind of accidental tongue-in-cheek hit that might have dumped other bands into one-hit-wonder territory.

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But Wet Leg’s follow-up single, “Wet Dream”, reached even higher on the indie charts and became their defining track from a debut album the NME called “an instant classic.”

Hailing from the Isle of Wight, Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers signed with Domino Records and released their self-titled debut in 2022. The album was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, the award for best album by artists from the U.K. or Ireland. Though the duo cites French disco as an influence, their music blends the dance-punk of Franz Ferdinand with the early 2000s garage rock revival of The Strokes.

Her Ex Has a Dream

Teasdale told Variety that “‘Wet Dream’ is a breakup song; it came about when one of my exes went through a stage of texting me after we’d broken up, telling me that he had a dream about me.”

“I was in your wet dream
Driving in my car
Saw you at the side of the road
There’s no one else around.”

In light of Wet Leg’s band name, it’s fitting for “Wet Dream” to be their most-streamed song on Spotify. And it also attracted a very high-profile fan.  

“You climb onto the bonnet
And you’re licking the windscreen
I’ve never seen anything so obscene
It’s enough to make a girl blush.”

Harry Styles Covers “Wet Dream”

The music video features Wet Leg’s Teasdale and Chambers attempting to eat lobster with lobster claws in place of their hands. A food fight ensues, interspersed with a pillow fight scene between bandmates. Teasdale directed the surreal clip, which Clash described as similar to the “dreamscapes of Věra Chytilová and Salvador Dali.”

And if the fantasy in “Wet Dream” wasn’t “enough to make a girl blush,” Harry Styles covered it in 2022 during a set on BBC’s Live Lounge. Wet Leg then toured as Styles’ opening act across Europe the following year.

So what makes Styles, music critics, and even Dave Grohl buzz about this band?

Wet Leg might be a much-needed antidote to life’s heartbreaks, breakups, and general setbacks. The duo writes about discomfort, then shrugs, and delivers it with the sarcasm it often deserves. Like someone’s wet dream about an ex.

Photo by Roberto Ricciuti/Redferns