One of the most entertaining parts of playing any Sims game is listening to the characters converse in their own language of Simlish—and actually sort of understanding them.
Technically, Simlish has been around since 1996, when it was used in the Maxis game SimCopter. But it wasn’t until the release of The Sims in 2000 that the language really took on a life of its own—so much so that some players even developed Simlish-to-English translations.
Though the language was originally based in reality—creator Will Wright had planned to form it around the Navajo language due to his interest in the Navajo code talkers—the team later decided to go with something completely invented so it couldn’t be translated. (Joke’s on them.) And though the words are totally made up, the language almost passes for real.
Here’s what a recording session looks like:
But it’s not just professional voiceover artists who get the chance to speak Simlish. The music featured in Sims games is also performed in the made-up language, and The Sims apparently has a lot of famous fans. Over the years, several popular musicians have recorded some of their biggest hits in Simlish—including Tegan & Sara, who recently recorded a Simlish translation of “Stop Desire” for The Sims 4‘s newest expansion pack. Here are 10 other artists who have done it.
1. KATY PERRY
2. LILY ALLEN
3. KIMBRA
4. NELLY FURTADO
5. MATT AND KIM
6. CARLY RAE JEPSEN
7. TORI KELLY
8. PIXIE LOTT
9. JESSICA MAUBOY
10. MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE
November 1, 2016 – 6:00pm