Reality shows are embracing ‘real songs’ and here’s why

When a couple decided to take their relationship further on the most recent season of “Love Is Blind,” the moment was soundtracked with a familiar song: Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather.”

It wasn’t a flash-in-the-pan musical surprise. The season was stacked with familiar needle drops — Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball,” Justin Bieber’s “Holy,” Ariana Grande’s “Into You,” Selena Gomez’s “Lose You to Love Me” — a gesture away from the little-known, sometimes generic pop songs that used to meet the show’s most emotional moments.

Show creator and Kinetic Content CEO Chris Coelen attributed the pivot to the show’s 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” isn’t 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?

It’s not artificial intelligence, where “nobody controls the copyright,” says “The Bachelor” music supervisor Jody Friedman. “There’s 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 show’s 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. It’s more affordable to pay to license a cover than the original recording — “and creatively, it’s a modern take on an old song,” he says.

“Love Island USA” music 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 of BTS’ “Butter” without having to pay for it.

“The indie libraries, let’s 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 shows

The use of instantly recognizable pop music differs from program to program.

“Love Is Blind” has used popular music in the past, but sparingly. Coelen points out the use of Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance” in Bliss Poureetezadi and Zack Goytowski’s 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 show’s music supervisor, Jon Ernst.

“Love Island USA” featured songs like Chappell Roan’s “Kaleidoscope” and Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please 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 you’re on vacation with your best friends. Of course, when you’re on vacation, you’re 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 they’re 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 year’s season, the show’s 29th, had several memorable musical moments, including a Cardi 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 they’ve 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. There’s a Karol G track.”

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. “It’s just a bridge between us all.”

—Maria Sherman, AP music writer

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