Second WP_Query loop shows data from main query

Question

I am trying to show the featured posts in my theme, with a custom field mytheme_featured_post which is 1 on the featured posts.

However it does not seem to filter the posts down to only the posts in the meta query.

// WP_Query arguments.
$featured = array(
'posts_per_page' => '5',
'meta_query' => array(
    array(
        'key'     => 'mytheme_featured_post',
        'value'   => '1',
    ),
),
);

// The Query.
$featured_query = new WP_Query( $featured );

if ( $featured_query -> have_posts() ) {
    while ( $featured_query -> have_posts() ) : $featured_query -> the_post();
        the_title();
    endwhile;
}

Update: This args are working as intended:

// WP_Query arguments.
$featured = array(
    'posts_per_page' => '5',
    'cat'            => '1',
    'meta_key'       => 'mytheme_featured_post',
    'meta_value'     => '1',
);

Answer 1

First make sure your query current or not.

Ref - https://codex.wordpress.org/Class_Reference/WP_Query

After or before every custom query, write query reset function.

wp_reset_query()

Try it.

Answer 2

I was tricked by sticky posts. Here is the working code if anyone coming by for the same problem! Check if it works after excluding the stickies.

/**
 * WP_Query arguments.
 *
 * @link https://codex.wordpress.org/Class_Reference/WP_Query
 */
$args = array(
    'posts_per_page' => '4',
    'orderby' => 'modified',
    'order' => 'desc',
    'post__not_in'   => get_option( 'sticky_posts' ),
    'meta_query' => array(
        array(
            'key'     => 'mytheme_featured_post',
            'value'   => '1',
            ),
            ),
    );

// The Query.
$query = new WP_Query( $args );

// The Loop.
if ( $query->have_posts() ) {

    while ( $query->have_posts() ) :
        $query->the_post();
        the_title();
    endwhile;
}
wp_reset_postdata();