Apple Music App won't automatically play the next song on my Apple Watch, 2nd one

First, I found the other thread with the same title. In it the OP indicated an iOS update fixed the problem. The thread is closed.

To my issue, which is the same. I have an Apple Watch SE 2nd gen. with watchOS 26.0.2, which is the latest. The issue began with the first watchOS 26 version. I have Apple Music downloads to my watch so I can listen while walking with just my Airpod Pro 2s and the watch and leave my phone at home.

I can play any of the downloaded music from watch to airpods without issue, EXCEPT the watch will only play one song of an album then stop. If I hit the >> button it will play the next song of the album. If I don’t, then silence. This was not always the case.

I’ve tried a hard reset of the watch and nothing changed.

Any ideas short of a full factory restore?

thanks