The Sims Team has shared a sneak peek at the upcoming update for The Sims 4 in their latest Inside Maxis Livestream!
In the stream they’ve revealed that The Sims 4 will soon be updated with new group family activities, such as Cooking and Gardening Together. Best thing about it is that Children can now also join in the fun!
Check out the full transcript and information about this addition below (with screens!). The update is expected to be released closer to the release of The Sims 4 Cottage Living Expansion Pack.
Let’s talk about family time! In the next game update The Sims will be able to do more things with their family such as cooking together.
Group cooking allows you to select up to 5 Sims together to cook a meal. It allows you to gain relationships while creating better quality meals and more servings. In addition to any Sim that’s on a player slot Children can also be chosen to cook with an adult. They will gain Mental Skill as a part while doing this. Sims that cook together can gain a new Sentiment!
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Let’s also talk about kids gardening! Children will be able to water, weed, plant and harvest crops! They cannot use the vertical garden from Eco Lifestyle though. Water is available to all Children but weed, plant and harvest are unlocked by Mental Skill thresholds. Children and Toddlers will also be able to talk to plants – it’s such a cute interaction! Toddlers babble or talk depending on Communication Skill; Children will have a few random renames of interactions like “How does the Sun taste?”.
Teens, Young Adults and Elder Sims with enough Gardening Skill can also teach about Plants to Child Sims – a social that provides a child with Mental Skills! All Sims who can plant Seeds (Teens, Young Adults and Elders) with enough Mental Skills will also have an option on gardening containers (Pots, Planters, Patches etc.) to plant the seeds in their inventory.
The Sims Team has shared a preview of a brand new hairstyle coming to The Sims 4!
The new hairstyle was shown during the latest Inside Maxis Livestream. Although we don’t know when the update will come out we should expect it as we get closer to the release of The Sims 4 Cottage Living Expansion Pack, which comes out July 22nd.
The Sims Team has released a brand new update for The Sims 4 on PC, Mac, Xbox One and PS4!
To download the latest version of The Sims 4, simply open your Origin program and if the game doesn’t update automatically, right click on The Sims 4 and select ”Update”.
In case you have Mods or Custom Content, the game will automatically disable them for you after first launching The Sims 4 after the update. To re-enable all your Mods and Custom Content, select the Settings option in the Menu and select Settings. Under the ”Other” section you’ll find the ”Enable Custom Content and Mods” option. Check it and restart your game in order for it to take effect!
Patch Notes
PC: 1.76.81.1020 / Mac: 1.76.81.1220
Console: Version 1.43
Happy Summer everyone! We hope you are well wherever you are in the World. We have a Game Update that we hope you enjoy and some bug fixes.
Thanks again for your continued support and feedback! Stay cool and hydrated and if you are not in a warm season, stay warm and cozy.
Chau Chau!
-SimGuruRusskii
What’s New?
Continuing our Summer of Sims, nothing says Summer like a music festival doesn’t it? Now you can experience them in The Sims! We welcome you to Sims Sessions with this update, a music festival where some of your favorite artists come together to entertain and to delight us with some of their most iconic songs. And we sure have a fantastic lineup for all of you!
Drumroll please…
Headlining the event, we have the award winning and critically acclaimed, two-time Grammy nominee, Bebe Rexha! She will be performing a magical, acoustic rendition of her song Sabotage.
Also performing we have Glass Animals, with their alternative, experimental sound that has captivated audiences across the globe. They will perform their top of the charts single Heat Waves.
Last but by no means least, is the soulful sound of Joy Oladokun! Recently deemed “2021 Artist to watch” by Amazon Music and NPR, Joy Oladokun’s words will stir all emotions and take you on a musical journey with the song breathe again.
Now that we have told you about our lineup, you must definitely NOT miss this event, I mean… Why would you? So let me tell you how to get there…
Sims Sessions will be hosted in Magnolia Blossom Park in Willow Creek on every Sunday (that is In Game Sunday), starting June 29 (TODAY) 10 a.m. PT to July 7 at 10 p.m. PT. Once Simmers load their game today (after updating the game of course) your Sims will get a message telling them about Sims Sessions (this will happen on in game Sunday in a new Save, but if you are not in a new save you will need to wait for it to be Sunday in your game after the Game Update), they will also receive a ticket in their inventory that they can view for more information and they will be able to travel to the location of the festival.
However, if your Sim is curious and absolutely cannot wait for the message, Sims can see the Sims Sessions pop up in the game in Willow Creek’s neighborhood map.
The festival venue will have vendors from which your Sims can buy merch and spots to relax and unwind while listening to amazing music.
We hope you enjoy this event! If you want to know more about Sims Sessions, you can visit the Sims Sessions website.
And with that we move on to the bug fixes…
Bug Fixes
Sims 4
Our master gardeners treated a few of our plants so they no longer reset to a previous growth stage randomly. If only life worked that way…
We fixed an issue where selected Create a Sim outfit parts on Sims were not showing up appropriately highlighted on the right side menu.
Teens generated with the Play with Genetics options in Create a Sim will no longer have Crow’s feet.
We have fixed an issue where Sims could not use stairs when Simmers deleted the floor of a fence block that was built around the stairs in the upper landing. It sounds like a mouthful, doesn’t it?
Some of our new hair colors (Neutral Black, Warm Brown, Neutral Blonde, and Light Blonde specially) were creating some issues in some Create a Sim hairstyles when applied, making Sims’ teeth disappear (?????) or turn grey in some cases.
Your Sims just LOVED their new hair colors, but noticed it also changed their eyelids and eyebrows instantly? I mean instant eyeliner is something I truly desire but we know that we needed to fix this one everyone, so indeed your Sims can no longer get automatic eyeliner and eyebrow colors from choosing a hair color.
Fixed an issue where when Sims learned about the Likes and Dislikes of other Sims their Sim Profile became blank. I mean, unless they like or dislike nothing, that is… troubling.
Get Together
Invited NPC will now leave… eventually. You know that saying that some visitors start smelling like rotten fish after a certain amount of time? We had to tell the NPCs that well, they were a problem so now they should be leaving appropriately.
Snowy Escape
I see a little silhouetto of a Sim, Skiing next to me – Omg, Omg, this is not a ghost tho? All the snow activities were really frightening me! All fixed now? Fixed now? MAGNIFICO OOOO.
If you had noticed invisible Sims doing snow activities in your game because they switched boots on the slopes… worry not, it should be fixed.
Bust the Dust
Sims with the Slob Trait can now complete the Fabulously Filthy Aspiration goal of Letting at least one floor level of your home become dirty! #goals?
With the Sims Session Summer Festival right around the corner, what better way to get into the mood than listening to some of your favourite Summer songs!
I asked Jovan and SnarkyWitch to join me in sharing a few of our favourite Summer songs, except there was a slight twist. One of those songs had to be a Simlish song. As well as the two songs we initially chose, we also chose another artist that we discovered because of The Sims!
So here are nine songs that make up our Summer Playlist!
Of course, throughout The Sims history there have been many artists featured in the games, a number of which we will have discovered for the first time through the game.
The Veronicas – When It All Falls Apart
AURORA – Under The Water
XY&O – Haunt Me
What are some of your favourite Summer songs that give you that festival feeling? Let us know in the comments below!
For more information about Sims Sessions, click here.
Over the last 2 years we’ve been getting a lot of reports about the next Sims Game being in development. We’ve been referring to this next Sims Game simply as “The Sims 5” because, with the production level and a few reports saying that this is going to be a next-generation Sims experience. We might never know if it’s going to be called that way (or something else) until the official announcement.
However, we now might know how EA is calling the next generation Sims Game internally. All big installments and projects have a special “project” name until the game is ready to be announced. This was also the case for The Sims 4, which was called at an early stage of development under Project Olympus. This was a project that held the name in the early stages of The Sims 4 back when it was developed as a multiplayer game.
@PattonKieran pointed out a new post on LinkedIn by a Maxis employee that stated the following:
Maxis (the esteemed maker of The Sims) is hiring! We have multiple positions open with both our Sims4 team as well as the top secret “Project Lotus”…
Some of the job listings that have been listed in this post refer to prototyping a new Sims Game in Unreal Engine. In case you don’t know we recently reported that The Sims 5 will be prototyped in Unreal Engine.
This all most likely confirms that internally EA developers are using “Project Lotus” when referring to the new Sims Game.
Would it be too much if I did a deep analysis of why would EA choose Lotus when referring to The Sims 5? Yeah, possibly. However I did a quick Google search anyways of the meaning of the Lotus flower:
The Lotus flower is regarded in many different cultures, especially in eastern religions, as a symbol of purity, enlightenment, self-regeneration and rebirth. Its characteristics are a perfect analogy for the human condition: even when its roots are in the dirtiest waters, the Lotus produces the most beautiful flower.
When I first started writing my Sims stories, I had no idea what I was doing and there weren’t a lot of easily-accessible resources back then to help a newbie Sims storyteller. For the most part, I went in blind and spent years slowly acquiring the knowledge, skills, and techniques to write the kinds of stories I do now. While my formal post-secondary education in English Studies certainly has contributed to the writing I do, a lot of the visual components of my stories were self-taught.
So I’m here today sharing a few tricks and tools of the trade to help you tell amazing, immersive stories that are visually appealing and draw people in!
Cheats are Your Friend
If you’re telling a story that’s integrated into a challenge you’re playing, you might not be able to use a lot of cheats if you’re complying with the rules of the challenge. However, there are a few small cheats I love to use to get better shots and set things up the way I need them that don’t interfere with most challenge gameplay at all.
headlineeffects off/on: Being able to toggle headline effects off and on is a life saver! This nifty cheat will get rid of all those annoying bubbles and whatnot floating above Sims’ heads that completely break the immersion of your story when they end up in your screenshots. It will even remove that eyesore of a plumbob on top of your active Sim! The only caveat with this cheat is that it also removes tooltips so you won’t be able to see how your garden is doing or check your hamster’s hunger level. Turn headline effects off when you want a beautiful shot and turn it back on when you need to see that kind of info.
cas.fulleditmode: I like to use this cheat when I need to quickly set relationships with some of my background characters. I can easily make Sims married, give them children, etc, without having to spend a lot of time playing that household in order to make all those changes. You can of course use this cheat to change your Sims’ physical features and “fix” a Sim that was born unfortunate-looking but I don’t typically do this in my game. I like the diversity in my Sims’ appearances.
freerealestate on: This cheat may not comply with the rules of some challenges but I don’t usually use it for my main Sims I’m playing out a challenge with. I do use it a lot to move out the extended family and other background characters somewhere a tad nicer than a ramshackle garden shed, though.
bb.enablefreebuild: This is a life saver for posed shots on most lots where it ordinarily wouldn’t be possible to place down a teleporter. For example, when my Sims are on vacation and staying in a rental property, I can use this cheat to access Build/Buy and place down anything I might need to tell my story, from teleporters to props.
Don’t Waste Time Building What You Don’t Need
Have you ever wondered how your favourite storytellers have the time to build all those elaborate sets for their stories? Well the truth is most of them don’t. What you see in screenshots is very different from how the lot actually looks in the game while the storyteller is shooting that scene. In reality, it looks more like a film set, with different stages set up in a studio-like environment and off-camera stage lights setting the ambiance.
If you’re writing a story about a group of high school kids but you only have scenes in the gym and the cafeteria, why would you build an entire school from the ground up? You don’t need all that extra stuff. It’s just going to eat up time you could have spent working on your story. Build only what you need to save time and energy.
If you’re not so great a builder, I have some pre-built storytelling sets in my Gallery. They’re all CC-free. Look up the ID SnarkyWitch and grab whatever inspires you!
Custom Poses
While it’s totally possible to tell a great story without any mods or cheats at all, things like custom poses can really enhance your scenes and deliver the kind of emotion the in-game animations can’t always achieve. In fact, I became so passionate about storytelling that I learned how to make my own custom poses so that I could bring the exact vision I had in my head to life in my story scenes.
But you don’t need to know how to make custom poses to use them in your stories! There are lots of amazing storytellers who share the poses they make for their own stories with the rest of the community! The best place to look for custom poses to download is ts4-poses on tumblr.
Check out the video below to learn how to use custom poses if you’re not familiar with how they work in your game!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lopaooe_hWs
TAB Mode is Best for Screenshots
Even though you can just hit the C key while you’re playing to generate a screenshot in your Sims 4 folder, you aren’t going to get those cinematic shots that really immerse the reader in your story. To get those intense close-ups of an anguished expression on a Sim’s face or a low to the ground angle for a cool action shot, you’ll have to learn to master cameraman mode. Or as I usually call it, TAB mode.
Hitting the TAB key while playing will take you into camera mode. This mode removes the UI and opens up advanced camera controls so you can get the best screenshots possible with professional-looking cinematic angles and viewpoints. Mastering the controls takes time, patience, and a lot of practice but here are some basic controls to get you started with it.
+/– (or) Z/X: Zoom in and out
Directional Arrows: Pan the camera around
Mouse Movement: Pitch the camera at the desired angle
A/D (or) </>: Rotate the camera
Play around with these controls and you’ll eventually become so comfortable with them that they’ll become second nature to you. Once you’ve gotten the shot you want, hit the C key to generate a screenshot in your Sims 4 folder.
Photo Edits Make Stories Pop
There are many ways to edit your screenshots to make them prettier, brighter, or darker, depending on the kind of story you’re telling and no storyteller edits their screenshots the exact same way. Some use a photo editing software like Photoshop or a free alternative. Others use a lighting mod called Reshade. Some storytellers use a combination of the two.
Because I’m lazy and don’t want to spend hours in Photoshop editing my screenshots (and because I’m a terrible photo editor), I rely on Reshade to do all the hard work for me. Reshade is a mod that works with many different games, including The Sims 3 and The Sims 4, that will change the lighting, colours, and shading directly in the game for you so that when you snap a screenshot, you’re snapping a fully edited photo without any Photoshop skills required.
Reshade is a bit tricky to install since it’s not installed the same way other mods for The Sims 4 are, so here’s a video tutorial for you to check out if you’re interested.
And there are hundreds, if not thousands, of presets available to install for Reshade as well but if you want the one I use in my screenshots, you can find it here. Be aware this preset only works with Reshade 3.0.8 so you will have to install an earlier version of Reshade in order for it to work properly.
Finally… Write a Good Story
I’ve given you some tricks of the trade to help you get incredible screenshots to accompany your stories but none of it will matter if the writing itself is not good. There’s no easy trick to good writing. There are no shortcuts or tried-and-true formulas that work 100% of the time. Writing is a skill that takes years and years of studying and practice to master and you’re always learning no matter how good at it you become.
I only have two tips that can help you with this part:
Read a lot of books and watch a lot of fiction. The more you read, the more you will pick up on good writing form and the more fiction you watch on TV, the more ideas you’ll get for some epic storylines. You’ll also pick up on what cinematic angles look best for which type of scenes.
Character development is everything. You could have the most amazing, fleshed out plot in the entire universe and the best screenshots with the most incredible sets… and no one will care if they don’t care about your characters. The best characters have flaws and struggle with contradicting personality traits. They screw up, they don’t always make the right choices, but they are always motivated by a desire to do better. Even most villains believe they are the good guys and aspire to be good in some way, even if their idea of being the best is actually bad.
So those are some tips and tricks to help you take your storytelling to new heights! Although all this can seem overwhelming to a newbie, please remember that I’m coming from an extensive academic background in language and literature and have decades of experience writing both Sims and non-Sims fiction. My tips might seem intense but the most important thing is to have fun. If you’re having fun, people will notice and want to have fun with you, so use what you find helpful and disregard anything that isn’t working for you.
The Sims 4 is known for its absolutely breathtaking worlds full of rich colours and vibrant details. Players who stop to explore the surroundings will find all sorts of hidden gems in unlikely places, as well as impressive views that would be impossible to miss. I took some time to gather up my top 10 favourite locations in The Sims 4, in no particular order.
Brindleton Bay’s Lighthouse
The lighthouse on Brindleton Bay’s island looks out over a breathtaking ocean view but it’s not just for show; Sims can actually visit the lighthouse and see the sights for themselves from the lighthouse’s platform. It’s a very romantic spot for dates and proposals. The lighthouse is even a WooHoo spot!
Britechester Ruins
Not far from the heart of Britechester lies the remains of a medieval castle. The mysterious circle underneath serves as the meeting place of Britechester’s secret society. While Sims can visit the stone circle and partake in secret society meetings there (provided they are a member), the ruins above are sadly not routable which is something I lament every time I go there.
The Hills of Del Sol Valley
Judith Ward has the best view in all of Del Sol Valley and I am so jealous. This gorgeous stone platform adorned with curated gardens nestled into the hills of Del Sol Valley is an award-winning sight to behold. You can see the whole city from this scenic spot. I love to give Judith alternative accommodations elsewhere and put a fancy wedding venue on this lot, instead. All my celebrity Sims tie the knot in the lap of luxury here and the area makes for some beautiful wedding photos.
Forgotten Hollow’s Swampy Grave
There can be beauty in the dark and unseen places and this spot in Forgotten Hollow proves it. I always find myself wondering about the story behind this area. Whose grave is this? Is the statue of the woman in the water connected somehow? This final resting place of an unknown Sim in the swamps of Forgotten Hollow is eerie, yet somehow peaceful.
Mt. Komorebi’s Wakaba District
This picturesque walkway in Mt. Komorebi’s Wakaba district offers a serene and thoughtful escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Even though the Wakaba area is Mt. Komorebi’s modern neighbourhood, it’s still a peaceful and relaxing place to raise a young family or just go sightseeing for a day.
Oasis Springs Waterfront
If you thought I would leave out the base game worlds, you thought wrong. Oasis Springs’ waterfront area still remains to this day one of my favourite places to visit in The Sims 4. This commercial strip offers lots for Sims to do, from gyms to bars to museums. The picturesque boardwalk offers playground equipment for the kids and relaxing spaces to fish, BBQ, and take in the sights. Sometimes in the afternoons, you can even spot a rainbow at the base of the waterfall.
Canyons of StrangerVille
Even though StrangerVille and Oasis Springs are both desert worlds, they have their own unique landscape and colour palette that makes them stand out from each other. The wealthy residents of StrangerVille enjoy a breathtaking view of the canyons below from their lush and inviting yards.
Sulani’s Lani St. Taz District
Mua Pel’am gets a lot of credit for being Sulani’s most beautiful area but Lani St. Taz is just as stunning. I love all the bridges connecting each little piece of land over shallow waters. At night, this place looks absolutely magical when the bridges are all lit up. It’s a perfect romantic spot for a date or maybe even a proposal!
The Sylvan Glade
This area might be unfamiliar to some. That’s because you can’t find this place on any map. The Sylvan Glade is a secret area that can only be found by interacting with a particular tree in the starter neighbourhood of Willow Creek. Once you find it, you’ll understand what makes it so special. It’s not just the sights of this twinkling magical place; it’s the sounds! The tinkling echoes of faerie laughter send good chills down my spine whenever I visit. The rainbow waterfall is also a great place to catch rare fish! Using the cheat bb.enablefreebuild will even allow you to build in this area!
Von Haunt Estate Chalet Gardens
Windenburg was the very first full-size world added to the game in an expansion pack and it remains to this day one of the most beautiful worlds in the game. If you haven’t paid a visit to the Von Haunt Estate, you don’t know what you’re missing! The expansive gardens around the lot itself are huge and there are lovely surprises waiting for you around every corner. Learn about the history of Lord and Lady Shallot as you stroll through the gardens. Paint at Lord Bernard’s famous lookout point over the hedge maze, or get lost inside the maze itself! Enjoy an afternoon under the gazebo or even marry the love of your life down by the water.
What’s your favourite location in The Sims 4? Did you learn about some of these locations for the first time today? Let me know in the comments!
As a passionate Sims storyteller in the community, I often rely on custom poses to bring my scenes to life and express deeper emotions than what the in-game animations offer. I have such a deep passion for storytelling that I even learned how to make my own custom poses to create the exact vision I have in my head.
But you don’t need to know how to make poses yourself to enjoy them in your stories. There are so many talented pose creators in the community who are generous enough to share the poses they make for their own stories with the community. Here are just a small handful of some of my personal favourites that I find myself using over and over again in my stories.
This pose pack is just so dreamy and romantic and I use it all the time in my stories. It’s definitely one of my favourites and I doubt I’ll be getting rid of it anytime soon. It’s just perfect for almost any tender moment between two Sims in love.
The It’s OK pose pack by SymphonySim is my go-to pose set for any serious story scene where a sad Sim needs some gentle comfort from a romantic interest. It has really made some of my story scenes perfect in every possible way and I highly recommend grabbing this great set!
Sometimes it can be hard to get a Sim to cry when you need them to for a heart-wrenching scene. It can be even harder to get them to cry with the kind of intensity that your story requires. That’s why I love this pose pack so much. It has come in handy when something truly devastating has happened in my story and I need the affected Sims to express that pain beyond what the goofy EA crying animations are capable of delivering.
It can be such a pain trying to find good poses of facial expressions for dialogue scenes or scenes with close-ups of a Sim’s face. Luckily SamSims has a whole emotions series focusing on just that! She has a range of emotion poses from disgust to anger to sadness and more for both adults and children! There are even different versions depending on if you want your Sims to be standing, sitting, or looking up.
Of course I had to include a pose set for my favourite occult type! I use CazMari’s Wander-lust pose pack constantly for all my epic action scenes involving my spellcasters. They make for great fight scenes and really add to the intensity of a nail-biter scene full of suspense! Go grab this one if you’re a fan of the supernatural!
Got any other pose pack recommendations? Share them in the comments or come chat with us on social media!
Yesterday The Sims Team has announced Sims Sessions – an in-game festival taking place in the world of The Sims 4. More specifically in the Magnolia Blossom Parkside in Willow Creek.
Before we dive deeper into how you’ll be able to take your Sims to this brand new in-game event, let’s learn a bit more about what Sims Sessions is all about.
According to Steve Schnur, Worldwide Executive and President of Music at EA, the Sims Sessions event will be a new way to merge music, gaming and culture altogether. Although they haven’t confirmed it directly, the ambition behind this project leads us to believe that there will be more than just one Sims Session taking place in The Sims 4.
“Sims Sessions is the next evolution of music in The Sims,” said Steve Schnur, Worldwide Executive and President of Music at EA. “Nowhere else can players hear and experience these exclusive performances by Bebe, Dave and Joy. With the self-expression destination that is Sims Sessions, EA will once again re-set the bar for gaming, music and global culture.”
The Sims official Twitter profile and SimGuruFrost have also shared some first details regarding how you’ll be able to attend the event in-game.
Between June 29th to July 7th every Sunday (in-game) there will be a Sim Sessions event in Magnolia Blossom Park. Don’t worry, there will be notifications letting you know it’s happening and buttons to literally take you to the event.
The event will begin at 10AM Pacific Time and ends at 10AM Pacific Time as well (July 7th).
A notification will pop up while in live mode, which adds a ticket that serves as a source of information & transportation to the music event taking place in Magnolia Blossom Park!
Sims Sessions is a free music experience for any player who owns The Sims 4 base game!
What’s at the venue stays & goes with the venue including kiosks and tents.
The Sims Sessions festival will take place in an uneditable area of the Magnolia Blossom Park. Tents, Kiosks and all festival items that have been converted from previous Packs will still require said packs. If for example you want to place a tent on your Lot you will still need The Sims 4 Outdoor Retreat Game Pack to do that.
Ready for Sims Sessions to take place in The Sims 4? We’ll be covering all the latest news and articles about this in-game festival right here on Sims Community so stay tuned!
Bebe Rexha, one of the headlining performers for the Sims Sessions event taking place in The Sims 4 from June 29th to July 7th, has shared a snippet of her song in Simlish!
The performance of her song Sabotage will take place in The Sims 4. Best thing about it? It will be entirely sung in Simlish! You can check out the Simlish snippet down below:
The Sims has just announced their super secret event of the Summer – the Sims Sessions!
It’s just been announced that Bebe Rexha, Glass Animals and Joy Oladokun will be performing in an in-game Sims Sessions Event in The Sims 4!
This special in-game festival will take place from June 29th to July 7th, 2021. During this period you’ll be able to enjoy many “festival” activities as described officially down below.
Light up your summer with the hottest tracks from your favorite artists. Experience Bebe Rexha, Glass Animals, and Joy Oladokun for the first time all over again—in Simlish! Catch the live event from June 29 at 10 a.m. PT to July 7 at 10 p.m. PT.
The Lineup
Bebe Rexha
Diamond-selling and two-time GRAMMY®-nominated New York City native Bebe Rexha is a musical force to be reckoned with. Her RIAA Platinum-certified debut album Expectations (released June 2018 on Warner Records) contained the Platinum single “I’m a Mess” and the global chart-topping smash “Meant to Be” (featuring Florida Georgia Line), now RIAA Certified Diamond. “Meant to Be” held the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for a record-setting 50 straight weeks, the longest reign ever by a female lead artist, and won Top Country Song at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards and Best Collaboration at the 2018 iHeart Radio Music Awards. It was subsequently nominated for Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the 61st annual GRAMMY Awards® in February 2019, where Bebe was also nominated for Best New Artist.
Early in her career, Bebe won the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences’ Best Teen Songwriter Award, and then formally burst onto the scene when she wrote “The Monster,” a worldwide hit for Eminem and Rihanna that was certified 6x Platinum by the RIAA. Bebe went on to co-write and carry the instantly recognizable hook for the 3x Platinum “Hey Mama,” by David Guetta, which was nominated for a Billboard Music Award for Top Dance/Electronic Song. Bebe also hit #1 on the Billboard Pop and Rap charts with her 5x Platinum “Me, Myself & I” with G-Eazy. In 2017, Bebe released the critically acclaimed EPs, All Your Fault: Part 1 (with the Platinum single “I Got You”) and All Your Fault: Part 2 (with “Meant to Be”). In conjunction with GRAMMY® Week 2019, Bebe launched the GRAMMY® Music Education Coalition’s (GMEC) national campaign on behalf of its new All-Star Ambassador program. Better Mistakes, her new album, includes the hit singles “Baby, I’m Jealous” feat. Doja Cat and “Sacrifice.” To date, Bebe has amassed over four billion YouTube views and over 12 billion total global streams.
Glass Animals
Since 2010, Glass Animals have redefined alternative pop with their experimental sounds, cinematic visuals, and narrative lyrics. The Platinum-Certified UK quartet—Dave Bayley [lead vocals, guitar], Drew MacFarlane [guitar, keys, backing vocals], Ed Irwin-Singer [bass, keys, backing vocals], and Joe Seaward [drums, backing vocals]—first presented their signature style on their 2014 breakout debut, ZABA. It yielded the Platinum single “Gooey” and elevated the band into the global spotlight. 2016’s How To Be A Human Being notably garnered a nomination for the prestigious Mercury Prize. However, Glass Animals lifted off to a new stratosphere with Dreamland in 2020. It marked their first Top 10 debut on the Billboard Top 200, while their global smash hit “Heat Waves” has amassed millions of streams to date, went Platinum in numerous countries, gave the band their first #1 on the U.S. Alternative Radio Chart, Top 15 at Top 40 Radio, and hit Top 10 on Spotify’s US Chart. Skyrocketing to the forefront of popular culture, they garnered nominations in the categories of “Top Rock Song” and “Top Rock Album” at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards, delivered knockout performances on Billboard Music Awards, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Late Late Show with James Corden, and Ellen, and lined up global headline dates for the 2021 Dreamland Tour everywhere from legendary amphitheaters such as Red Rocks to Bonnaroo, Life Is Beautiful, Outside Lands, and more. The band sold over 130,000 tickets in three days for their 2021-2022 North American tour, with the majority of the tickets selling out instantly. All the while maintaining their unique connection to their fans by creating their open sourced website where fans can create artwork based on the world of Dreamland, putting on a “Live In The Internet” concert that sold 25,000 tickets worldwide, and more. They created unique music videos during the 2020 pandemic by DIY-shooting solo in Dave Bayley’s apartment directed solely over Zoom (“Dreamland”), asking neighbors to shoot on their iPhones while Dave walked down the street (“Heat Waves”), and inviting fans to take 3D scans of their heads (“Tangerine”). Racking up billions of streams across their catalogue, they even made history as “the first UK band to capture #1 on Triple J’s Hottest 100 since 2009” with “Heat Waves” down under in Australia, leading to the longest run at #1 in 2021 on the ARIA Official Singles Chart. Ultimately, Glass Animals continue to redefine what alternative can be, while they quietly overtake the mainstream.
Joy Oladokun
With a guitar in hand, baseball cap over her eyes, and hooded sweatshirt loose, a woman sings with all of the poetry, pain, passion, and power her soul can muster. She is a new kind of American troubadour. She is Joy Oladokun. The Delaware-born, Arizona-raised, and Nashville-based Nigerian-American singer, songwriter, and producer projects unfiltered spirit over stark piano and delicate guitar. Her music and story galvanized a growing fan base as she completed a successful Kickstarter campaign to release her independent debut, Carry. Her song “No Turning Back” soundtracked a viral baby announcement by Ciara and Russell Wilson, opening up the floodgates. She landed a string of high-profile syncs, including NBC’s This Is Us, ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, and Showtime’s The L Word: Generation Q. On the heels of in defense of my own happiness (the beginnings), she garnered unanimous critical praise. Billboard touted the album as one of the “Top 10 Best LGBTQ Albums of 2020,” while NPR included “i see america” among the “100 Best Songs of 2020.” Predicted as on the verge of a massive breakthrough, she emerged on various tastemaker lists, including Spotify’s RADAR Artists to Watch 2021, YouTube “Black Voices Class of 2021,” NPR’s 2021 “Artists To Watch,” and Amazon Music’s “Artist To Watch 2021.” Not to mention, Vogue crowned her #1 “LBTQ+ Musician To Listen To.” She kicked off the new year by making her television debut on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon with a stunning and stirring performance of “breathe again.”
After attracting acclaim from Vogue, NPR, and American Songwriter, her words arrive at a time right when we need them the most.
Festival Activities
Shop the Festival
Buy artist-themed merchandise, run your own craft sales table, or snack like a rockstar at a food stand!
Camp Out
Festivals are fun but exhausting! Get some sleep in one of the tents—or Woohoo to the music.
Enjoy the Show
Gather around the stage to watch, dance, and cheer on the performances!
Perform on Stage
After the performances, go on stage and keep the tunes flowing. Jam on the piano and sing your heart out.
The Sims 4 Farmland Mod by The Sims Plus has a brand-new gameplay walkthrough that you can now check out ahead of the mod pack’s release. The fifty-minute video goes in depth with a number of the features and gameplay aspects of the new pack.
The mod pack will be released on the 25th June 2021 for Patreon Supporters and then publicly two weeks later.
You can catch the full walkthrough below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV8pGHfqCkE
For more details about The Sims 4 Farmland by The Sims Plus, click here.
Don’t forget to let us know what you think of The Sims 4 Farmland over on social media or in the comments below.
Eva Rotky is a passionate builder in The Sims 4 who creates a variety of different modern and minimalistic builds which also have a realistic feel and look to them. I recently came across a post in our Facebook Group that showed a lovely modern home with a gorgeous glass cube style room at the front of the build.
Upon watching Eva’s video for the build, there was one thing that really stood out to me, and that was how she utilizes the features of Twisted Mexi’s T.O.O.L mod to make her builds even more unique. Of course, pairing this with the items that can be found in Debug mode also opens up even more options and pushing the boundaries of what is possible in game.
Why not take a look at the builds we have featured in this post and many more of Eva’s wonderful modern and minimalistic builds over on her YouTube channel!
You can find and follow Eva using the links below!
Although the lack of lore in The Sims 4 has been a big complaint amongst players since it was first released in 2014, the game is not completely devoid of its own stories and with more and more packs comes more and more background to enrich the history of the game.
Here are some tidbits of The Sims 4 lore you may or may not have known about!
Johnny Zest’s Secret Identity
Everybody knows Johnny Zest as the goofy aspiring comedian who lives in a rundown trailer at the edge of Oasis Springs but if you read his household bio, it reveals much more about him.
Johnny Zest has the stage name and the dream, but maybe not the talent… Disowned by the Landgraabs for quitting school, Johnny wants to make his own fame and fortune as a standup comedian.
It turns out that Johnny is a member of the Landgraab family! Or rather, he was until he was disowned for quitting school to follow his dream of being a famous standup comedian. While his bio does not specify how he’s related to the Landgraabs and he has no connections on his family tree (most likely due to being disowned), most players seem to be in agreement that Johnny is Malcolm Landgraab’s older brother and Nancy and Geoffrey’s eldest son.
If we put Johnny and Malcolm’s pictures side by side, it’s very apparent that they share the same set of parents.
Johnny Zest
Malcolm Landgraab
The Haunted Halls of Britechester
Students at the University of Britechester might have noticed a dapper-looking ghost by the name of Felix Psyded roaming around the UBrite campus. Good old Felix isn’t just there for no reason, though! If you’re a UBrite student with some free time on your hands, you can research university urban legends on one of the research machines at the UBrite Commons to find out more about him.
Felix’s bittersweet story isn’t the only hidden gem of lore tucked into the Discover University expansion, though! We’ll let you discover the others but we will say that you may want to try leaving some excellent quality treats at the university statues and see what happens…
Count Vladislaus Straud IV… or Not?!
The count of Forgotten Hollow, Vladislaus Straud claims to be the fourth Vladislaus Straud to rule over Forgotten Hollow, after his great grandfather. That’s not the whole story, though. If you read his household bio, it hints that all may not be what it seems with Vlad.
Count Vladislaus Straud IV is the latest descendant to occupy Straud Manor. His oddly similar looking line of ancestors has resided here since the founding of Forgotten Hollow.
Oddly similar looking, huh? Well that would be because Vladislaus Straud I-IV are all the same person! The developers revealed in the Vampires deep dive livestream way back when that the statue of Vlad’s “great grandfather” in the centre of Forgotten Hollow is actually Vlad himself. He has been hiding his true age for centuries by taking on the identity of his non-existent descendants every few decades or so. This explains why Vlad has been able to live for so long as a vampire in relative peace and comfort.
The Magic Realm’s Delicate Balance
Ever wonder why The Magic Realm looks like it’s being torn apart? That’s because it is! The only thing holding it together is the magic of the three Sages. In the gameplay trailer for the Realm of Magic game pack, the Sage of Untamed magic, Morgyn Ember, explains that The Magic Realm exists in a delicate balance. A giant vortex threatens to tear the realm apart and the three schools of magic must be in balance with each other too in order to hold the realm together.
The Tragic Story of Guidry and Temperance
The Sims 4 Paranormal Stuff comes with its own background story. According to various object descriptions, our friendly neighbourhood ghost guide to the paranormal, Claude Rene Duplantier Guidry, lived from 1883-1920, making him 37 years old at the time of his death when he was crushed by a murphy bed. He was known for being quite the charmer of both the ladies and gents back in his day. One of his greatest and most tragic love affairs was with a woman named Temperance. Guidry will tell you he and Temperance go way back if she happens to show up in your haunted house and the description of a painting of her former manor says she was once Guidry’s lover. What exactly happened between them to end their love affair remains a mystery but given Guidry’s reputation for being a player, it’s not hard to imagine Temperance might still be feeling scorned after his affections strayed to someone else…
Got any tidbits of Sims 4 lore to share with us? Tell us in the comments or chat with us on social media!
