Wet Leg are now double Grammy Award winners, capping a meteoric rise for the Isle of Wight duo since their emergence in 2020.
Flanked by guitarist Josh Omead Mobaraki, bassist Ellis Durand and drummer Henry Holmes, the core duo of Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers appeared stunned as they picked up the gongs for Best Alternative Music Album, for last year’s Wet Leg, and Best Alternative Music Performance, for ‘Chaise Longue’.
“What are we doing here?” said Teasdale, as they collected the latter. “I don’t know, but here we are.” The band, who in their own words started out as “a bit of a joke” in 2019, were apparently not the only ones taken aback by the surprise success, given that they faced stiff competition across both categories from the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Big Thief, Björk, Florence + the Machine and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
There was, though, plenty of support for the pair on social media. “Love Wet Leg,” said A. C. Newman, leader of Canadian indie rock stalwarts The New Pornographers, on Twitter. “New bands are exciting, so why not give the Grammy to the exciting new band? It’s pop music.” On a similar note, Josh Gardner, commissioning editor of Guitar.com, said: “Find it weird that so many people seem annoyed that Wet Leg won the Best Alternative Album of 2022 at the Grammys last night, when it was – by some distance – the Best Alternative Album of 2022.”
“LOL, are the indie boys pissed off that Wet Leg won awards and beat their darlings?” tweeted Debbie M, under the handle @heavenstobetsie. “Good.” She appeared to be referring to a backlash from fans of Arctic Monkeys, who were nominated in the Best Alternative Music Performance Category for ‘There’d Better Be a Mirrorball’. “So glad to see Wet Leg win these Grammys,” added Jen Chaney, TV critic at Vulture. “That album is just so great.”
The band themselves had been on typically self-deprecating form on the red carpet ahead of the ceremony, reflecting on their recent support slots to Harry Styles in Los Angeles by revealing how they reacted when they heard he wanted them to open the show: “he must be thinking of the band Let Weg.” Now, Styles and the band will have four Grammys between them after last night’s awards, when they team up for the next European leg of Styles’ ‘Love On Tour’ this summer.