If you want to discover new things, just push yourself to try one thing per week you’ve never tried before, no matter what that is. It can be scary, but you will find as many new things you enjoy as there are things you don’t enjoy. For music, I like to listen to different genres because that lets me explore many new artists with an overarching musical theme that I know I enjoy. So like I know I love grunge, probably not gonna be a hard experience to get into Mother Love Bone. Or I’ll pick an all new genre and get a feel for it.
Relatability is a tough concept, because in my experience that’s one of the gaps that’s super hard to bridge between NT/ND communication. It’s not really possible to make yourself more relatable, because others have to relate to you, and that’s subjective from person to person because that’s something they have to do in their own head. But, I have found the more you try to relate to other people, the more they try to relate to you. So take that how you will.
Maybe they view it that way, and it does vary from person to person, but if you’re being genuine you probably aren’t giving off that vibe at all! Now, if you are actually just complimenting them for transactional purposes then yeah, they’re probably going to pick up on that. But if you’re using a compliment as a segue into a conversation, it’s obvious you’re not fishing for compliments because you’re asking questions about what you just complimented.
The best advice on socialization that I can give you is don’t be afraid to express genuine positivity, for any reason. If you think someone’s shoes are cool, go tell them, and ask them about that. If they think you’re weird for saying so, that is 100% a them problem and there are plenty of awesome peeps out there that will take your positivity and interest in them and send it back your way tenfold.
EDIT: To add to this, because you clarified that your issues lie in maintaining conversations rather than starting them, try to balance giving/gaining information in a conversation, see if that helps. Conversations are a back-and-forth that can go almost anywhere, not an event where people take turns saying their thing at the other person. So if you’re in the middle of a conversation and you think you’re starting to be a chatterbox, go like “ah but I’m going off again,” and ask them something about what they last said. Not only does it show you’re listening, it also allows them to circle back to a topic in which they obviously show interest. If you try to ask (noninvasive) questions and prod the other person into giving information, the conversation can’t stagnate because you’re engaging them on a subject.
Also, sometimes conversations just die. Or have awkward endings. That’s not necessarily an autism thing, just a life thing. Most of the time when I think I made a conversation awkward, going back and asking for clarification if I made it awkward is what actually makes it awkward. If you can be fine with maybe coming across as a little odd sometimes, it will take a MASSIVE amount of pressure off of social situations for you.