I think that opinion piece is a bit mixed up and not well thought out, or well written. More like the author wants to make a point but hasn't really got anything to bolster his view. The correlations made are very weak:
Of the hundreds of audience members to request it at my performances, young women comprise at least 90 percent. While we obviously don’t know the political affiliations or motivations of the people requesting it, young women represent one of the country’s only demographic groups that voted majority Democratic in the 2024 presidential election.
He asks, "Are we still producing anthemic songs that everyone can know and sing anymore?" I would say most definitely yes. But the medium has changed. We no longer tune in to radio stations where everyone who is tuned in hears the same song (that they did not choose) multiple times a week (or even day). In this age of streaming, people hone in and tune in to exactly what they want to hear. It's a completely different scenario than the 60s or 70s. Or even the age of MTV.
There's a hint of "my generation had better taste, better values" in the essay. That's always off-putting to me. Styles have changed; singing styles especially. But the music being written today is still very much along the lines of music that's been written for a century.
eta. What he's describing is a symptom of the internet age, not a symptom of inferior song writing. imo.
