There’s even new top 40 pop music that’s doing well. It’s hard to say that Chappell Roan is particularly derivative of anything, as an example, and before that you had Billie Eilish breaking in, the popularization of niche genres like Jersey club music, etc.
A lot of the pop music kvetching is usually code for “new music that I like and find familiar is hard to find.”
And FWIW I think there's plenty of high quality and original/creative music out there nowadays. But the 'top 40' category does seem quite stale and boring (judging by the music I hear in shopping malls/bars...).
What would you say this is derivative of, and how is this more derivative than other music? What is an example of not-derivative music by this criteria?
Nearly all music depends on some kind of prior art. You can be reductive about any genre of music; for a couple hundred years choral and classical European music was nearly all about devotion to God.
A lot of the pop music kvetching is usually code for “new music that I like and find familiar is hard to find.”