I don't think today's music is bad. People who have this opinion have limited their exposure to today's music to radio-friendly/instagrammable/YouTube recommended music. And calling it Western music is such an Indian thing to say lmao. A suggestion to hear how good music today is would be to go to rateyourmusic.com and just check the top charts. Look at the genres, experiment, pick what interests you and explore the genre. Music in 2022 is very, very expansive and the reason you'd have to pay attention to the music world is because you're force fed radio friendly, established musicians because that's what's easy to listen to. Critically acclaimed musicians don't always get radio hits because they don't always make easily digestible, repetitive pop tracks.

To summarize - go to rateyourmusic.com, explore sub-reddits like r/indiepop, watch reviewers like TheNeedleDrop, read articles from review sites like Pitchfork, et al., and then start really getting into music. Music in the 21st century is no where close to bad. If you think it is, you've heard way, way, way too little music in your life.

A comment above has suggestions to music to listen to. While their music is good, they're also generational stars who are in fact, mainstream cultural icons. Here's a list of things to listen to in 2022:

1. Hip-Hop - Kendrick, Danny Brown, Billy Woods, JID, Jay Z, Ka, Clipping. Tyler, the Creator, Freddie Gibbs, Jpegmafia, Injury Reserve
2. R&B - Thundercat, Frank Ocean, D'Angelo (Last record, 2014, Black messiah, great album)
3. Rock - King Gizzard, Tame Impala, Black country new Road, Black midi, Beach House (Dream Pop is a form of rock music), Daughters
4. Metal - No clue, actually. I love my old school bands. Newer ones I'd probably say look into prog metal, djent bands and test them out.
5. Others because there's so many genres - Sufjan Steven's, Thom Yorke, Denzel curry, Tim Hecker, Deaths dynamic shroud, lil simz, pharaoh sanders, weyes blood, car seat headrest, ye (music, not opinions), Cudi, swans, death grips, mid air thief.

There's so much to listen to bruh. Just explore and see what the 21st century has to offer

Don't listen to mainstream music. There are a few good, talented artists but most modern songs are generic and have repetitive and unimaginative lyrics, autotuned vocals and studio backing tracks without any creativity or use of actual musical instruments. You'd be better off searching for indie artists and classic rock bands on Spotify or YouTube. I find that going back in time and listening to classics is the best! Like the moderator said, there is good music out there. You just have to look for it.

I've made a list of artists for each era of music below. The list isn't definitive, but it's all that comes to mind right now.

50s: Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Ray Charles

60s: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Simon & Garfunkel

70s Rock & Metal: Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Queen, Black Sabbath

70s Pop: ABBA, Bee Gees, Stevie Wonder

80s Pop: Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, Lionel Richie, Whitney Houston, and so many more!

80s Rock: Def Leppard, Guns N' Roses, Bon Jovi, U2, Dire Straits, The Police, Bruce Springsteen and so many more!

80s Metal: Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Metallica, Megadeth 🤘🏼

90s Pop: Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, Mariah Carey

90s Rock: Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against The Machine, Tool, Foo Fighters

90s Rap: Nas, 2Pac, Biggie, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg

2000s Rock: Linkin Park, Green Day, System of a Down, Queens of the Stone Age

2000s Pop, R&B & Rap: Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Usher, Akon, T-Pain, Chris Brown, Eminem, 50 Cent, Justin Timberlake

Modern Pop and R&B: Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, The Weeknd, Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, John Mayer

Modern Rock: Arctic Monkeys, Tame Impala, Paramore, Kings of Leon, Florence + The Machine

Happy listening!