When I was 20 I was a music snob into Aphex Twin and weird IDM. I thought all pop at the time was crap, like you seem to. But then I heard, I mean like really heard, "Bye Bye Bye" by *NSYNC and seriously that is a good song!

I'm 40 now and I think it got way better even since then. Pop is so varied now! I really don't think music as quirky and weird as, say, Billie Eilish would've made it to the top of the charts in the 90s. I'd say that music like hers (and many top charting artists of her generation) is a testament to how broad and compelling pop music has become.

My generation thought their parents music was shit, my parents' generation thought their parents' music was shit, and so on, all the way until at least the invention of Jazz. But the average Gen-Z'er thinks all the music is great! They invent new genres for every song, they wear Metallica t-shirts in 2023, and they mix 80s disco with 00's Brit rock like it's just what people do.

And don't forget there's an endless long tail of music out there. There are so many good musicians and plenty of them have a sufficiently fancy label deal to be on Spotify and the likes. And otherwise they're still on Soundcloud, Bandcamp and YouTube. It's worth a deep dive!