When a couple decided to take their relationship further on the most recent season ofLove Is Blind,the moment was soundtracked with a familiar song:Billie EilishsBirds of a Feather.It wasnt a flash-in-the-pan musical surprise. The season was stacked with familiar needle drops Miley CyrusWrecking Ball,Justin BiebersHoly,Ariana GrandesInto You,Selena GomezsLose You to Love Me a gesture away from the little-known, sometimes generic pop songs that used to meet the shows most emotional moments.Show creator and Kinetic Content CEO Chris Coelen attributed the pivot to the shows anniversary.We decided, in this Season 8, to coincide with our fifth anniversary, to really embrace popular music in a big way, he said. And so, we ended up using throughout the entire season and in every episode we used popular music cues.Love Is Blind isnt the only reality show that walks the line between what viewers have labeled real songs and unfamiliar music.Where does the unfamiliar music come from?Its not artificial intelligence, where nobody controls the copyright, saysThe Bachelormusic supervisor Jody Friedman. Theres too much risk involved with using AI music in these projects.Excluding big-time pop records, the music used on television comes from a number of sources. It can be custom, original music by the shows composers. It can be licensed directly from artists, or from sync agents, production music libraries or a one stop, what supervisors call a company that has the rights to license both the master recording and the composition rights.Music supervisors might also turn to covers of well-known songs. On the most recent season of The Bachelor, Friedman used a cover of Phil Phillips Sea of Love, a classic 50s tune. Its more affordable to pay to license a cover than the original recording and creatively, its a modern take on an old song, he says.Love Island USAmusic supervisor Sara Torres also uses covers.That can bring in other listeners that may not necessarily be into pop, but if they hear the song in a different genre, it might pull them in, to go back and listen to the original version, she says.Music libraries companies that represent music catalogs for licensing purposes are key, too, because if a song is too expensive to license, a supervisor can instead find a song that evokes the feeling ofBTS Butterwithout having to pay for it.The indie libraries, lets say, for TV, could be anywhere from $1,000-1,500 per needle drop use, says Friedman. Generally speaking, bigger commercial songs can range from $20,000 to upward of $100,000 depending on the use, he says.A history of using real songs on dating competition showsThe use of instantly recognizable pop music differs from program to program.Love Is Blindhas used popular music in the past, but sparingly. Coelen points out the use of Lee Ann Womacks I Hope You Dance in Bliss Poureetezadi and Zack Goytowskis story in Season 4. But the frequency of Top 40 hits in the most recent season is new.He says the benefit of using these songs, creatively, is that it elevates the experience, for the viewer: Emotions are so connected to certain pieces of music, and they can conjure up feelings that we relate to.Kinetic Content declined The Associated Press request to speak with the shows music supervisor, Jon Ernst.Love Island USA featured songs likeChappell RoansKaleidoscope andSabrina CarpentersPlease Please Please in its most recent season. Executive producer James Barker points out that the original U.K. show has always used commercial music, and therefore the U.S. version has endeavored to do the same.The show is meant to feel like youre on vacation with your best friends. Of course, when youre on vacation, youre sharing music, he says. I think that translates into how we create the show.Torres agrees. She adds that the show typically uses more commercial music in the beginning of the season, and then again in the finale you want that big impact.Because the show has a quick turnaround time, with six episodes a week whatever happens in Fiji on Monday airs Tuesday in America, as Barker describes it the show team pre-clears over a thousand songs, just in case they work for a particular narrative moment. That means requests are sent out to publishers and labels ahead of time, but theyre not paid for until the tracks are selected.A show with more lead time, The Bachelor has long used commercial songs in its programming. This years season, the shows 29th, had several memorable musical moments, including aCardi B,Bad Bunny and J Balvin needle drop when I Like It played as the cast made their way to Madrid.This is my first season with The Bachelor, but historically theyve used Colbie Caillat, Boyz II Men, Backstreet Boys, lists Friedman. They used Billie Eilish last season. This season we used a David Guetta track, Dropkick Murphys for the episode in Boston. Theres aKarol Gtrack.He adds The Bachelor does use a lot of recognizable pop songs, typically one or two per episode.Each episode does have a budget. So, while they may splurge on a pop song, the rest of the budget is spent on other music that comes at a lower cost, he says.So, will there be more real song drops in the future?For Love Is Blind, Coelen says simply: The answer is yes.Barker from Love Island USA agrees.Not only are you engaged with the characters, but the songs and artists that you care about listening to at home are being represented on television, he adds. Its just a bridge between us all.Maria Sherman, AP music writer