iWatch now playing stopped working after iOS update

For the past few months the Now Playing feature on my Apple Watch 1st gen has stopped working/syncing with my iPhone. It used to work fine on my 15 pro, and I don't remember exactly which iOS update broke it, but it would have been around 17.5. I have tried restarting both devices, repairing, fiddling with watch sync settings and pretty much everything else. Now playing still works for content playing ON the watch, but it no longer reflects/affects what is playing on the iPhone. I know it is not an issue with the watch itself or with watchOS 4.3.2 since I can re-pair it to a different iPhone running 17.1 and Now Playing will work just fine, so I am pretty sure it is an oversight or a "bug" (likely intentional) with newer versions of iOS. I didn't see anything else like this while searching around other forums, so I though I would ask/put this here in case anyone else is experiencing the same thing or has a workaround.