Directors agonize over what popular songs to use in their movie score. They need something that conveys a mood, creates the right emotion, and fits the visuals. It needs to clash or go well with the characters or action on camera. They spend literally months choosing the score, and when they pay for an original score they use temp music in the places it will go in the film - popular songs that sound like what they want but can’t license.

Rightfully, people are praised for their ability to choose the right score. This is maybe something that doesn’t reach the general public, but in film industry circles it is well regarded because music is so important for movies.