Issue with playing selected music

Since I began using iTunes years and years ago music playback has always worked the same - whenever I’m listening to a playlist, regardless of HOW I’m listening (Bluetooth car stereo, speaker or even just using the phone’s speaker), and I have stopped the music, it “holds its place” so that when I start it up again it begins right where it left off and goes from there. Until recently that is. Now when I start up the music again not only does it not start where it left off, it doesn’t even stay within the playlist. It just starts playing some random song from my library AND it also somehow sets itself to play all the library music randomly. So I have to go in, turn off the random and find where I was previously in my playlist and start from there again. *every* *time* it’s so annoying. How do I set it to just keep playing from my playlist in order like it used to do for a decade or more? (Also, FYI, all my iTunes tasks are done from my phone which has not been synced with a computer at any time). Thank you for any advice you can offer!! It’s making me nuts!!