What you describe is mostly referred to as indie-pop.

What pop "actually is" is described on wikipedia and in various dictionaries and she is pretty much dead on in what she said. If you want to define pop as being something else... that's fine. But for the rest of us, that's not pop.

I don't even like any pop music, but you sicken me.

No. What she described is one sub-genre of pop. The fact is, there are loads and loads of varieties of pop music. Pop could be extended to include things like dream-pop, noise-pop, even wildly experimental bordering-on-avant-garde stuff by bands like Deerhoof. The full range of indie and alternative pop, in fact, can equally be classified as pop. Not just bubblegum, urban and so forth.

With that said, it is true that pleasant melodies are usually important to pop music. But that the lyrical content must be basic is nonsense. Perhaps most chart pop these days, yes. But not pop in all its shapes and forms. And "catchy melodies" isn't really much of a definition, is it. 90%+ of all music strives to have memorable melodies, even a lot of metal.

the rest of us? :laughing:

I prefer not to rely on wikipedia or what dictionaries say. I prefer to , you know actually use my ears when it comes to making judgement on music.

lol, exactly. The idea that you can somehow define an entire genre of music, especially something as complex a notion as "pop", in a mere dictionary entry, is ludicrous!

I take the view if it sounds good and is musically competent, it's good music. It doesn't matter what genre it is, but that's just me.