Since we've already evaluated - let's exaggerate - that "most Top 40 songs are slop", maybe lyrics are a big factor in creating identity? I mean, it's true for books, right? I could easily imagine an AI-generated Top 40 song that people would still describe as having a unique identity.

I'm not super into the topic, but let me give you two niche examples that are definitely not Top 40 material, yet are considered to have a strong identity within their communities.

I guess one of the reasons the game Yasuke Simulator has like 10x more sales (don't pin me down on that) on Steam than the actual game Assassin's Creed: Shadows is its very catchy soundtrack, with lyrics that are funny and strongly aligned with the content. [0]

Another example, not focused on lyrics and from a completely different niche genre, is this jazzy death metal song that was particularly well received, not only because of the intentionally hallucinatory video. One could even argue that the hallucination is perceived as a feature, not a bug. So why shouldn't the same be true for audio? [1]

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hkh38jhILec

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzXafFUekl0

I think very simply we need a persona to bind our feelings on the music too. This is why Hatsune Miku is so big even though "she" uses many "slop" like elements in her work. Slop often is quite high quality when measured objectively but objective measurements struggle to take soul into account.