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Forget Them Wendy take on the attention economy with “Next Big Thing”

Featured image: Forget Them Wendy’s Laura James and Oliver Price. Press photo courtesy of LPR Agency.

The pressure to stay visible online becomes a songwriting subject for Forget Them Wendy on their new single, “Next Big Thing.” The indie pop and grunge duo frame the song as a satire of influencer culture and the race to catch whatever the internet wants next.

Forget Them Wendy brings together Newcastle-based songwriter Laura James and Edinburgh-born producer and guitarist Oliver Price, who now lives in London. Their shared references include ’90s records by The Cranberries, Smashing Pumpkins and The Breeders, according to the release’s press notes.

The duo’s commentary comes with a sense of their own place in that cycle. In the announcement, James discusses the scramble for attention while admitting that sharing their lives on social media is not especially natural for them. Price turns the conversation toward an imagined future in which audiences abandon an established band for the next fashionable act. The joke places the musicians inside the attention economy they are describing.

That self-awareness also extends to the project’s name. Forget Them Wendy takes its name from a line in J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, invoking an escape from the obligations of growing up. James describes the partnership as a space for accepting who they are, including the uncertainty that comes with figuring that out.

The single follows the duo’s debut EP. Their press materials report that BBC Introducing included “Dead in the Water” among its Tracks of 2025 and selected “Plug It In” as a Track of the Week. The pair are working toward a debut album, releasing songs individually while deciding its final sequence.

“Next Big Thing” is available on Spotify. Updates from the duo are available through their official Instagram.

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