Why is modern pop music today so terrible?

I second the recommendation on Anais Mitchell...incredible voice, great songwriter and guitar....I heard about her because I am lucky enough to live in an area with 2 classical stations, 1 new jazz station and a great college station with "free form" programming www.krcc.org    that has a hip music director....Anais Mitchell appeared here in Col. Sps. in a small venue ...fantastic evening....I've been following music for most of my 61 years...80% of people consume the music they are told to consume...good music has to be found by work and sometimes luck!

while there is tons of programmed bad pop these days, there is plenty of good music if one avoids conventional radio.
Tedeschi Trucks, Houndmouth, (the late) Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Wilco, Paul Weller (ex Jam), Neko Case, Wild Feathers, Kings of Leon, Band of Horses, Nicole Atkins, Margo Price, Avett Brothers, Lake Street Dive, Michael Kiwanuka, ....
Not everything gonna be Aretha, The Beatles, Stones, Chuck and Jackie Wilson.
When anyone can make a record in their house, and they do, it becomes a question of the lowest common denominator.  

Imagine dragons, the lumineers, of monsters and men, Portugal the man, mumford and sons, one republic, fun, death cab for cutie, cold play, arcade fire, amimee Mann, all American rejects.... a few examples.... all well produced, well done, musical and enjoyable.  some are available as MQA, most all as flacs and/ or vinyl.  

You find what what you are looking for.  There will always be the front facing commercially driven tunes....but there are artists out there of course.  Check Bandcamp for example......

either that or +1 on you're just old and a curmudgeon.....;-)

Simple: it is created for an audience that is almost entirely ignorant of music.  Imagine books if they were published for illiterates.  Instead of sentences, paragraphs, chapters, and a story arc, you might have page after page with just a single giant letter printed on it.  The "reader" would grunt with satisfaction over recognizing the letter.
Compared with today's pop songs, The Beatles were Webern.

While I do believe there is a great deal of vocal talent among the young artists of today, the problem I have with most of today's pop is it's canned and synthesized production. I still prefer the sound, air and performance of real horns, strings and percussion, combined with the signature of a fine or notable vocal. There are still a lot of fine productions and artists out there that still involve real instruments and meaningful vocals - just have to dig a little to find them. The fun with having a nice system is to be able to appreciate it when you find it...
Jim