We’ve Got A File On You: Paris Hilton
We’ve Got A File On You features interviews in which artists share the stories behind the extracurricular activities that dot their careers: acting gigs, guest appearances, random internet ephemera, etc.
For about 15 seconds, I think I might die in Paris Hilton’s cryotherapy chamber.
It’s a late afternoon in early August, and a few journalists, me included, have been invited to the heiress and businesswoman’s Los Angeles home: a Tuscan-style seven-bedroom mansion tucked away in a celebrity-filled enclave called Beverly Park. We’re coming over to hear Hilton’s forthcoming album, Infinite Icon, her first proper LP in nearly two decades.
As I remove my sandals (Hilton’s is a no-shoes house) and walk through the massive foyer, a member of her team mentions that Adele lives nearby. Given how today’s pop star places little emphasis on courting the media, I doubt that Adele would readily open her door to a bunch of journalists, introduce us to her family, or let us try out the stuff in her home spa.
Before the listening party ensues, Hilton’s husband, entrepreneur and venture capitalist Carter Reum, a gregarious guy who jokes about being treated like a member of the wait staff at his own wedding, gives us a guided tour of the couple’s “Sliving Spa” — a decked-out wonderland of youth-extending contraptions. In the far-right corner is a cryotherapy chamber — an appliance resembling a walk-in freezer that, by suddenly dropping the temperature to something like -160°c, is supposed to send the blood rushing to the areas that need it most. Because your body literally thinks it’s dying.
Telling us that he uses the human refrigerator twice a day(!), Reum invites us to give it a try. And that’s how I end up in the cryotherapy chamber, not quite yet knowing what it does, but plunged into a cold snap severe enough to make me briefly worry that it’s all over. Just as quickly, Reum opens the chamber door, and I stumble out, gasping. There’s no time to recover — now we’re being herded upstairs for the listening party with Hilton.
The listening area is situated in a cozy den; a pink Crosley turntable sits in the corner, and a Grogu (baby Yoda) doll peeks out on a shelf next to some bedazzled Hello Kitty paraphernalia. In the next room is a sizable play area for Hilton and Reum’s two young children. Seated on a sofa with her team, Hilton appears totally unchanged from the magnetic socialite we only thought we knew back in the early 2000s. But, as the club-ready Infinite Icon illustrates, Hilton has gone through multiple transformations since releasing the tropical-pop gem “Stars Are Blind” in 2006.
With executive production from Sia and guest spots ranging from Rina Sawayama to Meghan Trainor, the intensely personal Infinite Icon parses painful lived experiences, the bumpy road to self-acceptance, and the singular joy in finding the love of your life.
A few weeks after Hilton’s intimate listening party concludes, we hop on the phone to dig a little deeper into Infinite Icon, playing cornhole at Coachella with Vampire Weekend, posing for a Smashing Pumpkins single artwork, and much more.
New Album Infinite Icon (2024)
Thank you so much again for the experience of inviting me and a few other journalists into your home to hear the new album! Whether it’s music or something else you’re in promotional mode for, are you in the habit of inviting people into your home? Or is that a relatively new idea?
PARIS HILTON: This is the first time I’ve done this.
My last album, we would do different listening parties, like in Las Vegas or New York, and just be at a studio with everyone. But now, with this album, and just with everything that’s happened in my life, and being a mom, I try to do as much as possible from home. Because I’m always working, and I just love having my babies close by, and I’m at a point in my life [where] I’m very open about everything.
I think it all started with doing my documentary [2020’s This Is Paris] and doing so much self-discovery. And then with my memoir [2023’s Paris: The Memoir]. I just feel like I’m an open book now, and I really like all my interactions to be personal.
I’m just so incredibly proud of this album that I was excited to share it with everyone, and that’s why I wanted to invite everyone to my home so we could listen to it in my space.
When we were at your house, you spoke briefly about how much has changed since the release of your first album nearly 20 years ago. Everything from how the press treated you to your own journey of self-understanding and discovery. What do you feel the greatest difference is between the creation and rollout of Infinite Icon versus Paris?
HILTON: I just feel like this album is a musical journey through all the different eras of my life, and I feel like I’ve lived through so many different phases of my life. I really wanted the album to capture that.
I feel like the first album was more fun, club music, and this one has deeper and more introspective songs that really reflect my life, what I’ve been through, my resilience, what I’ve been through in love, and how I feel now — so happy and in such an incredible place in my life. I feel like I have a story that I want to tell through my music, and [I want to] inspire others to embrace who they are and celebrate love and what an incredible feeling it is to have that true, unconditional love. I feel like this is the first time in my life that I’ve had [that], and I wanted to show that through my music.
Working With Sia And Holy Ghost!’s Alex Frankel (2023)
Last year, you signed with Alex Frankel’s talent management group FM Group. Alex is also listed as a producer on Infinite Icon What was your experience like working with Alex — not to mention executive producer Sia, whom you spoke so highly of the day of the listening party?
HILTON: I’m so grateful to Sia. She has been so incredible. She’s so brilliant, she’s so kind. She has the biggest heart. She’s been such an inspiration. This past year and a half of making this album together was so magical. Just being with her, being the studio with her, she really brought out something in me that I didn’t even know I had in me and with my voice.
And Alex [Frankel] is amazing. He has been so supportive. This whole experience of making this album has been very therapeutic. It just feels really good to be able to put together quality songs that I know are going to mean so much to my fans, and I’m so grateful to everyone who worked so hard with me on this album.
Out of curiosity, had you listened to Alex’s band Holy Ghost before starting the album?
HILTON: When I first started working with him, I saw that online. I was like, “Oh, that’s so cool that you were in a band before.”
Have you ever been to his deli in New York?
HILTON: I’ve had the food from there, yes! So good. Love it. I love deli food. Especially when I come to New York.
What’s your go-to order at a deli — or any classic New York eatery? Since I moved to LA, I always find myself missing those little bottles of flavored Schweppes Sparkling Water.
HILTON: I love hero sandwiches with turkey, lettuce, cheddar cheese, and mustard. I love matzo ball soup. And the pickles. I really miss coleslaw.
Playing Cornhole With Vampire Weekend At Coachella (2024)
How did you end up onstage with Vampire Weekend at Coachella this past spring?
HILTON: I know [Ezra Koenig]’s wife [Rashida Jones], and I have my whole life.
[Editor’s note: Koenig and Jones are not married, but Jones told the New Yorker in July that they refer to each other has husband and wife.]
This came about because I was at Coachella, and it was actually a few hours before [Vampire Weekend’s] performance. My husband’s like, “Oh, someone on the team got a call [saying] that Vampire Weekend wants you to go out [onstage] and surprise everyone and play cornhole.” And I’m like, “I don’t even know what cornhole is.”
I was like, “All right, let’s do it.” I literally just got dressed and went — I had my cowboy-core outfit on and everything. I didn’t realize I would totally be on theme. It was really fun and cool. Everyone was screaming and so excited. And I love their music, so I was really happy when we got the call. And I love Coachella, it’s one of my favorite festivals.
Appearing On Smashing Pumpkins’ Single Artwork For “Tarantula” (2007)
I’d love to know the backstory of how you ended up on the cover art for Smashing Pumpkins’ “Tarantula.” Were you a fan of the band previously?
HILTON: Yes, of course, I was a fan of Smashing Pumpkins. They’re iconic, they’re legends. I love that band. Billy [Corgan] and I were friends, and he called me one day and was like, “I want to do this photo shoot with you and Lindsay [Lohan] and Britney [Spears]. I have this whole idea; will you come and meet me?” [Editor’s note: Spears and Lohan didn’t end up making it to the shoot.] We went to some studio or something, and we shot it together. It was really awesome. I love him. He’s so talented and such a nice person. It was just so cool to be on an album cover for one of my favorite bands growing up.
Singing “Happiness Is Not A Warm Scalpel” With Paul Sorvino (2008)
There’s surprisingly little information out there on the horror rock opera you starred in — Repo! The Genetic Opera. What do you recall about that project, playing Amber Sweet opposite the late Paul Sorvino?
HILTON: Yeah, that was one of my favorite films to shoot.
I was actually just with Darren Lynn Bousman. He’s the director. He wrote and directed the Saw movies. He’s brilliant. We were just shooting together with Nicole Richie and I for our The Simple Life reunion, and we had a lot of fun with Darren, because he was [such a] creative mind. I got the part of Amber Sweet, and we shot in Toronto for a few months. Paul Sorvino played my father, and we became very close on set. I love Paul. He’s just phenomenal actor, and just so kind and lovely. It was really fun to play the character, because every scene she looked completely different. That movie has now become like a cult classic, where they do these midnight screenings, kind of like Rocky Horror Picture Show. There’s so many people who come dressed up as my character. It’s very cool that it has like this cult following. The music was like a rock opera, mixing opera with horror. It was like a very interesting and unique.
I love that film. If [Darren] did a part two, I would love to do it again, because it was just such an awesome set to be on. Sarah Brightman [as Blind Mag] was such an incredible opera singer, such a legend in that scene. She was just amazing to work with as well.
Releasing Singles With Lil Wayne And Birdman (2013, 2015)
In the early 2010s you signed with Cash Money Records and released a few singles: “Good Time” featuring Lil Wayne, “Come Alive,” and “High Off My Love” featuring Birdman. You were ostensibly prepping a sophomore album, but it was never released. Was there a singular reason why that album was shelved, or did the idea just kind of peter out, as things do sometimes?
HILTON: Yeah, I love Lil Wayne. He’s so amazing, so much fun, so talented. We recorded a couple songs together. That album, I was working on it, but I was also just — I was doing a million other things, running all my other businesses, my brand, DJing. So, I wasn’t really focusing on music as much. Wayne [would say], “Let’s go to the studio.” I was friends with so many different DJs and producers, and people were always asking me to go in the studio to record music. I was recording music just for fun. I just wasn’t even focused on the music like I am now.
But I love all the singles I released. It was so much fun doing them, but I didn’t have the focus that I do now.
First “Proper” Concert Performance At The Fonda Theatre In LA (2023)
You’re no stranger to DJing for huge crowds all over the world, and I can hear that club influence all over Infinite Icon. Was there a point where your focus on DJing started to connect with writing new songs and ultimately focusing on releasing an album? At the listening party, you spoke about Miley Cyrus inviting you onstage to sing “Stars Are Blind” with her and Sia being a jumping off point.
HILTON: I love DJing. It’s one of my favorite things to do. I just feel like I come alive on stage. Just the feeling of playing music and seeing thousands of people dancing and jumping and screaming — it’s this indescribable feeling that’s priceless.
When Miley called me and asked me if I would come and surprise everyone on New Year’s Eve and sing “Stars Are Blind” with her and Sia, just being on stage and singing — that was on another level. That was the first time I had done a live show like that. Before, I would always be DJing, but to be on stage and feel pop star vibes… Which has always been my dream, but I’ve always just been such a shy person.
When I was backstage, about to go out, I was talking with Sia and Miley, and I was saying how nervous I was and how shy I am. They both started telling me that they get so nervous [too]. Sia’s like, “I’m so shy. That’s why I have my whole trademark, my wig. Just to hear two people that I’ve looked up to [say] that they feel the same way, that immediately helped take away my nervousness. Then being up there, singing “Stars Are Blind,” and seeing the audience. People have tears in their eyes, and everyone was singing along. Then flying back to LA the next day with Sia on the plane, she said, “Why have you not released another album? You were born to be a pop star.”
Then when she’s offered to be the executive producer of my album and write a whole album with me, I was like, “Oh my God. She’s right. I was born to do this; this is what I want to do with my life.” To have someone like Sia believe in me and say that to me was such a pivotal moment where I just went all in for it. Literally that night, she sent me like 60 songs, and we just started going back and forth and went in the studio the next day and started recording. I just remembered, like my love for being in the studio and my love for my music, and that’s when I put all my focus and energy into making this album.
Yeah, you’ve often described yourself as a shy person, which runs counter to your persona — partially a character you’ve admitted to creating. When it comes to getting on stage these days, do you have any affirmations, meditations, or general tips for overcoming stage anxiety?
HILTON: Every time I do something, I’m always nervous in the beginning. But then I always try to tell myself, “Paris, you always are nervous, but every time you do something, you kill it, and you’re so happy as soon as you’re out there and you’re hearing the people and seeing the smiles.” Making people happy is one of my favorite superpowers. Also with my ADHD, [that’s] my superpower. After studying and researching [ADHD], I know that when you have ADHD, there will be thoughts that come into your mind. They’re negative a lot of the time, but they’re mostly not true. I always tell myself, “It’s not you, it’s just your mind.” And as soon as you go out there, you’re not going to be nervous anymore.
Sometimes I listen to different apps that have these sounds that make you relax, like waves or something. This app called BetterSleep [has sounds to help with] focusing, relaxing, or going to sleep, or for not being nervous. They actually really work.
Yeah, your memoir contains a lot of discussion around your adult ADHD diagnosis. And Infinite Icon has a song called “ADHD” where you call it your superpower. That meant a lot to me to hear a pop song about ADHD being a source of creativity and strength. I was diagnosed with ADHD (then just ADD) as a child, and I would have loved to hear a song reframing it as a strength, as opposed to a disability or something that needs “fixing.” The dialogue around neurodiversity is so much more evolved today.
HILTON: I know. No one was talking about [ADHD] when I was a teenager. I was always feeling exactly how you were feeling. Like, “What’s wrong with me? Why can I not remember things? Why do I get bad grades? It’s like every test that I do, I can’t remember anything that I studied so hard for.” It was such a struggle. That’s why I’m so grateful now that people are talking about it and there’s so much research. That’s one of the big reasons I wanted to do a song about it. That was a song I needed to hear as a teenager.
Even me talking about it so much and advocating for it — I want people to understand it, so other people can understand and support people, maybe their children, their spouse, or their friend. Just for all the young girls out there to know that there’s nothing wrong with them, it’s just that their brain works differently. If they could harness it, then it can be a superpower. We can focus — [but] only on things that we love and we’re passionate about. We have this ability to hyper-focus, where we can focus more than people who don’t have ADHD.
I just want to keep spreading the message out there, because I just know how difficult and what a struggle it was for me growing up not knowing or having a word for it. But I think any teenager or their parents, or anyone who does the research and they look into it, they will understand it’s so much more. I just want people with ADHD to be able to thrive in life and not let it hold them back and not let those intrusive feelings hold them back. Because those feelings are not true. I just want everyone who has ADHD to know that, because I relate, and I know exactly how anyone feels. Every time I meet someone with ADHD, I’m like, “Oh, my fam!”
The Reemergence Of “Stars Are Blind” Via Promising Young Woman (2021)
I’ve read a lot about your approving “Stars Are Blind” for use in Promising Young Woman, and you wrote a beautiful Facebook post at the time praising the pharmacy scene. Did you have a chance to speak to director Emerald Fennell after the movie came out?
HILTON: I was at an Oscar party at San Vicente Bungalows, and [Fennell] came up to me and introduced herself, and we started talking about the song and how much it meant to her and how grateful she was that she got to use it in the film. And I was just telling her how touched I was, and I couldn’t wait to see it. Then they sent me the film early, and I watched it, and I was in tears — just so happy. It made me so proud, that someone I respected so much had loved my song and put it in this amazing film. I thought [the pharmacy scene with Carrie Mulligan and Bo Burnham] was such a sweet part of the film, just seeing her and him in love and being so playful with each other. And then for [Promising Young Woman] to win Oscars and things, I was like, “Oh my god, this is so sick.”
Fun fact — “Stars Are Blind” went to #1 in Scotland, Hungary, and Slovakia. Did you keep track of chart placements at the time?
HILTON: I wasn’t really paying attention to any of that. I was probably going out every single night and not paying attention to any of it. [Laughs.] But that’s amazing to hear, and I’m so happy that people all around the world love this song. It was such a defining moment in my career. Like, my first real step into the music world. It makes me so proud that it’s so timeless and that people today still love it so much. It will always just have such a huge and special place in my heart. It just brings so much happiness to people. I feel like it’s one of those summer bops that’ll be around forever, like an infinite icon.
Infinite Icon is out 9/6 via 11:11 Media.
