Oh, I think we've misunderstood each other.
By synthwave, I mean that sort of hyper-stylised/fantastical imagining of the 80s, not necessarily the stuff that's influenced by real 80s synth stuff.
Listening to some of it even more now, some of it reminds me of the throwaway incidental music that you might have heard in soundtracks at the time by people that were crafting music that they thought would be favored by young audiences:
Some of it sounds decent at times, but then they will often add some kind of garish flourish to the music. maybe I just need to get the "vibe", man