You'd be hard-pressed to convince someone artists like Adele and Sam Smith aren't making their own "art".[/QUOTE]
I've never listened to Sam Smith, but Adele is a singer/songwriter and is the 1%. Of course there are popular artists today that are good, but 99% of trash.
99% of pop is art like a 3 year old finger painting is art. They have pretty much no talent, knowledge, or serious investment into the art of music like actual musicians. What people need to realize is that people like Taylor Swift have people like Max Martin writing their music for them (or at least guiding the process). Then the whole auto-tune crap and everything else. That said, Coldplay has a 'member' that helps with the writing, arranging, and producing, but no where near the level of the average pop artist.