Have you even made it as an artist if you’re not singing in a made up language for a Sims game? There’s a proud tradition of popular musicians like Carly Rae Jepsen or Janelle Monáe re-recording songs in Simlish, the in-game language of The Sims, and now, celebrated alternative artist Japanese Breakfast (Michelle Zauner) is joining their ranks with a cover of her single “Be Sweet” for The Sims 4 Cottage Living.
Zauner’s track is summer-y and eminently danceable, and it feels just the same underneath a trailer hawking more features for The Sims 4, even with the chorus transformed to “Ya wana baleesh da voo ya wana baleeeeeeeeesh”. It’s also delightfully weird in the way all covers in “Simlish” are — I just love hearing famous musicians sing nonsense! Check out the song in English (with an X-Files inspired music video) for a better comparison:
Simlish is a deliberately cultivated kind of baby talk, relying more on rhythm, emotion, and cadence than direct translation from one language to another, according to The Sims’ developers. There’s just something bizarre about hearing a song you love filtered through The Sims’ almost understandable, but totally inscrutable digital babbling. It’s even more strange seeing it happen in-person, like in this now-infamous Katy Perry video:
Lending some talent to a classic life simulation game isn’t Zauner’s only foray into video games either. The artist is also composing music for Sable, an upcoming Xbox and PC open world game. We just learned at the Summer Games Fest that Sable is coming out later this year on September 23rd, 2021.
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A history of Simlish, the language that defined The Sims