I like the recent Kpop. For example this dnb remix of some Aespa:

(soundcloud) armageddon-flava-d-remix (by Aespa; aespaofficial)

Come back the Beatles.

Come Back? I thought they sang Get Back

lol what? Lil Wayne and Lady Gaga were popular when I was in middle school, that was like 12 years ago.

If it's profound lyrics you want there is no shortage of thought provoking artists from this decade alone, and some of them are even hugely popular! The diversity of music coming out lately has been unlike anything we have seen in music before, cross pollination of dif genres, scenes, mentalities. The gatekeeping present with decades of past is mostly gone nowadays, there really is an abundance in creativity at the moment and especially with darker times in history people are creating very important art to shape cultural change. Luckily, the internet has, along with many cons, given platform to so many new lines of thinking and being that one can truly not be bored with modern music if they go about looking for it, which is also increasingly easy.

Artists with deep profound lyrics were mostly the exception rather than the norm in popular music in the 50s, 60s and 70s too. So much lyricism of that era was drug addled nonsense, syrupy one dimensional love songs, “rock all night party all day” fluff, etc. None of that makes it bad music by any means but let’s not kid ourselves that massively mainstream popular genres like 70s hard rock, 60s doo wop, and sunshine pop and late 70s disco were the pinnacle of lyrical excellence either. There are plenty of artists, including very popular ones, who write great, deep, resonant lyrics today, and fluffy insubstantial lyrics have always taken up a lions share of top charting music.

Nice take and true. I would like to add that each person has a different definition of deep and meaningful lyrics.

Some might think it's all about describing the pain and joy of a relationship, others want political rants aligning with their own views while others might want enlightened.

Personally, I'm a melody first guy and don't pay much attention to deciphering the meaning of lyrics until after several listens.

My favorites are generally quirky and have a little humor even if the subject is serious.

One other observation/question. Do we judge the current generation based on artists dominating the Billboard charts or by everybody putting out music?