Paris Sings

  I don’t think that I’d be a good red-blooded American if I didn’t spend my Memorial Day weekend pondering the career of Paris Hilton. Not because Memorial Day is for remembering people we have lost, but because Americans are supposed to spend their time thinking about pop culture icons and celebutantes, like Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie and Ally Hilfiger.

  As an American, you can imagine the bittersweet sting of delight that I experienced when I read that Paris had released the details of her upcoming CD to a Hong Kong magazine.  On one hand, all of my questions had been answered.  On the other, she revealed all of the details that the world awaits with baited breath to the country that gave us William Hung.  Fortunately, the “news”  was quickly translated from Cantonese and spread around the world like a July brushfire. 

  The CD, to be released later this year by Hilton’s record label, Heiress Records, will feature seven songs written by the artist herself.  The label was formed two years ago, but has yet to release an actual CD.  Naturally, Paris’ will be its first.  And while the album still doesn’t have a name, there was talk last year that it would be called “Paris Is Burning.”

  The recording process was not without it’s tribulations though.  Paris claims her shyness has always stood between the artist and her dream.  “I have always had a voice and always knew I could sing, but I was too shy to let it come out,” she told the Hong Kong magazine Prestige.  “I think that is the hardest thing you can do, to sing in front of people.  When I finally let go and did it, I realized it is what I am most talented at and what I love to do the most.”

  While Paris wrote a majority of the songs on the upcoming disc, it will also include a remake of Rod Stewart’s “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?”  The first single will be a reggae song—that’s right, a reggae song—called “Stars Are Blind.”  We won’t know what the song’s about until it’s released later this month, but I suspect it’s a political cry calling for government regulation of paparazzi flashbulbs.  Granted, it’s no “Buffalo Soldier” or “Redemption Song,” but it’s an admirable cause in it’s own way.

  Though most Americans eagerly await Paris’ maiden album as if it were a Beatles reunion tour, some skeptics claim that Hilton is just trying to upstage her once-pal Nicole Richie.  The two have been embroiled in a bitter feud for the last year or so, and it continues to play out in a self-perpetuating parade of one-upmanship.  Paris buys a little dog, Nicole buys two.  Paris writes a book, Nicole writes a book.  And since Nicole has been in the studio working on an album, well, what else was Paris to do?

  The video for “Stars Are Blind” was shot last week on a beach in Malibu by Chris Applebaum, who directed the “Stacy’s Mom” video for Fountains of Wayne and “S.O.S.” for Rihanna, among others.  You’ll probably be seeing it on MTV within the next six weeks, even if it’s awful.

  Not since the Lindbergh baby or Patty Hearst has a child of prominence become famous for all the wrong reasons, until now.  My prediction: Paris Hilton’s new CD will earn her a place in the history of American pop music right between Shaquille O’Neal and Bart Simpson.

 -From Pulse
   June 1, 2006