I'm just running off a very weird interaction I had recently, where it felt like a lot of people were trying to obscure what makes something DSBM because of some desire to have specific bands labelled as DSBM. I just found it weird because like, if you aren't specifically looking for the shit that's earnestly hopeless, then what's the appeal of having something called DSBM?

Firstly, I was told that it's like hip hop and most of the people don't mean what they say. I find this weird, like, why sing about being depressed and suicidal if you're not you have no experience with depression or suicidal ideation? It's not quite the same as the bragging nature of hip hop, or the cartoonish violence of goregrind - presenting yourself as a sadboy and not actually being a sadboy is just, well, sad.

Then I was told that DSBM is more of a sound and aesthetic, and the content doesn't actually have to be overly depressive or lacking in hope.

So I'd like y'all's input:

1. Does something have to be earnest in order to be DSBM? Can someone just write a sad song and play some black metal riffs and that's now DSBM, or is it more than that?
2. Can DSBM not be about DS at all?

I guess I should make clear, in the end, I don't really care how others classify subgenres, I'm just kinda surprised by people who are showing me stuff that just doesn't seem negative the way DSBM does and I had always assumed that was kinda the trademark of DSBM.