Na Na Na in Simlish?! When My Chemical Romance, Rise Against, and Circa Survive Went Digital

Credit: Brennan Schnell - eastscene.com

If Linkin Park reprogrammed how I saw concerts, The Sims reprogrammed how I saw storytelling. And when bands like My Chemical Romance, Rise Against, and Circa Survive entered The Sims universe, it felt like two worlds colliding, music and gaming finally speaking the same language.

Growing up, gaming wasn’t optional, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. My dad worked as a video game producer early in his career, so our house was stacked to the ceiling with consoles and computers. While other kids might’ve been running around blasting each other with Nerf guns, I was side-scrolling through Super Mario and Duck Hunt on the NES, then leaping across Prince of Persia and unraveling text puzzles in Monkey Island on an Apple II.

Then, at fifteen, along came The Sims, a literal game-changer for my imagination.

As a female gamer, you learn quickly how to navigate the cliques. Gaming culture has always been a little like high school sadly: the noobs, the casuals, the hardcore grinders. You were only considered a “real gamer” if you were sniping enemies in an FPS or conquering empires in an RTS. Playing The Sims often landed you in the “casual” bucket, which supposedly delisted your gamer cred (if you gave a fuck about that).

But then something shifted. When my favorite bands started getting the Simlish treatment, suddenly the game felt legitimized. It gave me permission to own my place in gaming culture out loud.

🎶 From Jazz Loops to Simlish Anthems

The Sims has always had a unique sound. A virtual dollhouse with its own gibberish language, its characters quickly became as iconic as the music that filled their homes. Build Mode’s smooth jazz soundtracks might have been the proto-playlist for what we now call “cozy gaming.”

As the franchise evolved, so did its soundtrack. By the time The Sims 2 was released, artists like Barenaked Ladies, Chiodos, Flyleaf, and Scary Kids Scaring Kids were all getting Simlish remixes.

But it was The Sims 3 where the music scene leveled up.

The Ambitions expansion trailer featured Rise Against’s “Savior” in Simlish, and that was the tether that deepened my connection to the game. Suddenly, music I lived with daily wasn’t just background noise; it was part of the digital universe I was creating. It blurred reality and fantasy in ways that felt thrillingly immersive.

Then came Late Night. My Chemical Romance’s Simlish debut with “Na Na Na, turned a random in-game radio station into an Easter egg for my own life. Imagine sitting there, orchestrating the daily drama of your Sims, and then your band starts playing from the stereo. It was jarring, but in a surreal kind of way.

And if that wasn’t enough, the Generations expansion followed with Circa Survive’s “Everyway” alongside tracks from Jimmy Eat World, Garbage, Neon Trees, Lacuna Coil, Patrick Stump, and Airborne Toxic Event (remember when they were literally everywhere?).

💾 Capitalism, Sure. But Also Creativity.

Of course, EA couldn’t resist milking the synergy. Katy Perry got her own Stuff Pack, her own collector’s edition Showtime expansion, and the discourse quickly turned into “cash grab” accusations because capitalism, which is a debate for another post, perhaps.

But beyond the surface-level marketing, there was something real here.

For the first time, high-profile musicians were being woven into a gaming franchise not just as cameos, but as part of the immersive storytelling fabric. It deepened the emotional connection between players and their worlds, and for me, it was like getting a massive hit of XP that gave me the ability to level up the ways I thought about narrative.

This was the beginning of something bigger: a reminder that escapism doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s always bleeding in from reality, and sometimes, it’s reality being translated back through play.