When a new pack comes out for The Sims, we can always expect new music to come with it. Throughout the series, real-life recording artists have been lending their voices to the game, even if that means they have to record their songs over in the completely jibberish language used in the series, called Simlish.
The language doesn’t sound as silly when we hear our Sims speaking it - it’s expected - but when we hear actual musicians we know and love diving into the nonsense and offering it wholeheartedly as part of the game, we can’t help but to giggle and try to sing along.
10 “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” By Luke Bryan
Disclaimer: I’m not a country girl, so I’ll skip the “shaking it” part here. But at my last job, I worked with a gaggle of girls who always played the country station while we worked (I was outnumbered), so while I might not know the song, I do know that Luke Bryan is a big name in that sphere.
Simlish is always funny to listen to, especially when it sounds so genuine. Hearing the line, “Country girl, shake it for me, girl,” translated and sung with heart as, “Crumply gurn, sheeky fabby, gurn,” is spectacular.
9 “Violet Stars Happy Hunting!” By Janelle Monae
Janelle Monae has enjoyed a successful music career since the mid-2000s, working with huge artists like OutKast and Puff Daddy very early on. By the time her song, “Violet Stars Happy Hunting!” appeared in The Sims 2: Apartment Life alongside several other big names, the bopping pop song fit right in.
The song is a metaphor for societal discrimination, thematically serving as a hunting song for a fictional robot, Cindi Mayweather. However, Monae’s vocal performance in the song is both explosive and memorable.
8 “Animal” By Neon Trees
This song was everywhere when it debuted in 2010, but it’s a catchy one that’s proven its staying power. A single listen gives away the meaning – the singer is in a relationship of a more casual nature but wants to turn it into something real. We’ve all been there...
But The Sims team made a good choice in sticking this track in The Sims 3: Ambitions expansion pack on the Indie channel, alongside other greats of the time. The song (in English) is still the band’s second-most popular release on Spotify.
7 “Smile” By Lily Allen
In the mid-2000s, everyone knew Lily Allen and her British songbird tunes, but now, people are more familiar with her brother, Alfie, who played Theon Greyjoy in Game of Thrones. But Lily had a notable career of her own, and in this hit off her 2006 debut album, she gives an honest look at what it’s like to be cheated on by a romantic partner.
The song is upbeat, and we watch Allen go from morose that the infidelity happened to enjoying the feeling of seeing said ex feeling sad when they also get their heart broken. It was added in The Sims 2: Seasons and still gets stuck in my head this long later.
6 “Don’t Cha” By The Pussycat Dolls
I was in middle school when this song came out, but that didn’t stop hyper-awkward, puberty-laden me from feeling like a fierce girl when it came on. The effect was a little less tempestuous when you hear the song in Simlish in The Sims 2: Pets on the pop station in-game, but still.
“Don’t Cha” is a 2005 super-hit by The Pussycat Dolls featuring Busta Rhymes. In it, the Dolls are trying to get Busta Rhymes to leave his girlfriend for them by taunting him with how much better they are than her. It’s a mean thing to say, but they do it to such a danceable beat.
5 “Pocket Full Of Sunshine” By Natasha Bedingfield
This was another song that was everywhere in its prime before it appeared in The Sims, dropping in Simlish in the FreeTime expansion for The Sims 2. I remember the scene from Easy A with Emma Stone repeatedly opening a card that sings the song, begrudgingly coming to sing along with it - that was all of us at the time.
And the song is really just that catchy (in English, that is). To promote its inclusion in The Sims, a music video showed Bedingfield as a Sim performing the Simlish version, which aired on MTV.
4 “Na Na Na” By My Chemical Romance
No band was more formative for my young, mid-2000s alternative lifestyle than My Chemical Romance, and I know a lot of Millennial emos will agree. The song released in 2010 from the Danger Days album and is absolutely explosive – it’s angsty and almost too easy to scream along to, and the music itself is bouncy and fun in the face of the abrasive lyrics.
The song was the first single off Danger Days and came to The Sims 3 in the Late Night expansion on the pop station. There’s something so interesting about hearing your rock star crush of yesteryear sing in jibberish…
3 “Pressure” By Paramore
The Sims series has seen countless console releases over the years, and that’s exactly where Paramore came into it. Back in 2005, when the song came out, Paramore were hardly the icons they are today, just beginning to make a name for themselves at the time and exploding onto the scene as they did.
Still, “Pressure” is an earworm, in English or Simlish, and it was featured in the game alongside other rock greats at the time, bands whose t-shirts I sold at my first job at Hot Topic when I was 16. Hats off to them for a meteoric rise and an amusing song for The Sims on console.
2 “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” By Katy Perry
Katy Perry has had a handful of songs done in Simlish for the games, but none was more iconic than the Simlish version of “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.).” The song came in Perry’s own stuff pack, Katy Perry’s Sweet Treats, alongside dozens of dessert-centric items calling back to her candy-coated “California Girls” music video.
The pack itself caused some controversy with fans, but the song that came with it was amazing. I have the clearest memory of watching Perry herself sing the lyrics while recording the track for the game, and it’s still amusing a decade later.
1 “Let’s Get It Started” By The Black-Eyed Peas
The Urbz: Sims in the City got mixed reviews – it’s different from the core series in that you’re tasked with working through various city districts to become well-known – but I’m a fan. The popularity task that divided Sims fans were given to us by the members of The Black Eyed Peas, 2000s pop music icons.
The band provided a handful of Simlish songs for the game, with their music being most prominently featured. “Let’s Get It Started” was used for the game’s promotion and thereby became the most iconic. They did so many covers that they had their own radio station in the game, “BEP-d Beat,” that only played their songs. It’s absolutely ridiculous, but they are, strangely, great.