it's actual pop music.

I never said it wasn't. It is, but you can clearly consider it a niche for it has very specific sonic and graphic characteristics that differentiate K-Pop from, say, U.S. Pop. Which is not a bad thing, I never say it was.

I can't really think of a fair comparison right now, but, you can't say Doja Cat and CL, making music that's in between Pop and the Rap genre, are similar, for example. They might be categorized under the same music genre label, but the sonic different is significant.

The US isn't doing pop right now.

I am not a U.S. citizen, but nearly 90% of the music I consume is made in/by the U.S. music industry and they've never stopped doing Pop. It may not be exceptional Pop music, but they're still doing it. Lol.

I wouldn't be surprised that you don't care for it, you said you listen to R&B/Hip Hop.

You clearly didn't read my entire post, but, to your point, I can think off the top of my head of BTS' songs I Like It and Home, which are R&B/Soul-infused tracks which are simply amazing and I love them. Hyolyn with Dally, too. Oh, a singer names Crush with None or CHAI with her album Give And Take. So, it's not that I don't care for it and I wrote that on my post. Lol.