Why do you think songs are successful? Do you think it's literally blind luck every single time?

There are skilled people, but they are behind the scene (Dr Dre, Timbaland). Singers have little to do with it imo. (Once you're known it's easier to get sold to radios, you just have to get a gimmicky song to get in people's heads, but that's the producer's job).

it hurts your puritan sensibilities because the ultra-consumerist and materialistic sex-crazed world we live in seems to crave blonde chicks with ever-so-droll outfits talking about such utterly meaningless drivel-nonsense like the same repetitive love song over and over again takes no effort and it gets sooo much more traction than your beautiful, wonderful, glorious music which is clearly superior to literally other type of music in the world.

I have to admit it's true, and I don't get why it sells that well. But at the same time I listen to every Rammstein album, it's just a different standard I guess.

It's because the label invests money into psychologists, producers, musicians, audio technicians, lyricists, and, of course, the vocalist(s).

While I agree big labels must put a lot of money to sell a new album to the public (this is known that labels buy the first 20 000 copies of an album just so it gets in the TOP50 and get played on the radio/TV), I'm pretty sure that if you give indie labels the same amount of money, they could sell the same amount of albums.

It's like Marvel movies. You can make any garbage you want, as long as you have the Marvel tag on it, I'm pretty sure you'll earn money from the movie. That's what public wants, but does that make the movie good, I don't think so.