On a warm Friday afternoon in August, Paris Hilton walks into the room of an Italian-style villa in the hilliest (read: most secluded) part of Beverly Hills. The assembled brand representatives and journalists have been politely asked to remove their shoes in the marble-floored foyer of the property, which serves as the office of Hilton’s 11:11 Media, a content company for brands and creatives. Upstairs in this white-carpeted room, the lady of the house wears stilettos.
The reason for this meeting is Hilton’s new album, Infinite symbolis out today (September 6), 18 years after the release of her eponymous debut. The album is a dance-pop hybrid that finds Hilton in full pop mode, with a group of collaborators that includes Megan Thee Stallion, Rina Sawayama, Sia and Meghan Trainor. Paris set a precedent for success with “Stars Are Blind,” which spent 12 weeks on the Hot 100 in 2006, peaking at No. 18 — and remains a smash to this day.
The house/office is decorated to remind viewers of Hilton’s achievements. Posters of her show hang on the wall The simple lifea Y2K-era ratings juggernaut that helped make Hilton and co-star Nicole Richie household names. Her 2021 reality show Paris in Love watched her wedding to now-husband Carter Reum, who welcomes us into the house and offers us Diet Cokes and a tour of the “Sliving Spa,” a collection of amenities that includes hyperbaric and cryotherapy chambers set up in what was once the garage. There’s a display of pink handbags and a neon sign on the wall that reads “That’s Hot,” the catchphrase Hilton trademarked in 2004, long before “very demure” became the patent-pending slogan of the summer.
As an assistant leads us up the stairs, we pass many racks full of clothes (bright, glittery, feather-light) that are used, among other things, for the shooting of a music video for Infinite symbol‘s “Bad Bitch Academy.” A mood board for the video includes, among other very wild, very empowering images, an image of the famous 2006 photo of Hilton, Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan that the New York Post published with the headline “Bimbo Summit,” which was replaced on the mood board with “Bad Bitch Summit.”
But much of the clothing will ultimately not appear in the video; it will instead be burned in a RV fire outside the LA set in a week. The fire, sparked by an accident Hilton believes was an electrical problem, broke out shortly after the first scene was filmed and destroyed nearly everything in the RV, including Hilton’s clothes, shoes, hair extensions, 300 sunglasses and other irreplaceable items.
“Because of my ADHD, I have notepads with thousands of notes on them, and they all burned along with my diaries,” Hilton says Billboard in the wake of the fire. “It was really heartbreaking.”
But even though the fire was still smoldering, Hilton and the crew continued filming. “A lot of people thought it was over,” she says. “I just said, ‘No, no, we’re going to keep going.'” It’s fair to say that real fire can’t stop Paris Hilton from pursuing her pop star dreams.
Sure, a second album full of hooks and big-name guest appearances could help her get there. But in some ways, Hilton has always been a pop queen of sorts, with her fame, her fortune, her outfits and her existing Hot 100 hit—now she just has more music to go with it. “I’ve always had that attitude and charisma and feeling,” she agrees. “Even when I go to signings for my perfume line (releases) and all these things around the world, my products, my books, I feel like a pop star all the time. So with this album, it’s just next level.”
The project finds her in her comfort zone, where she has always felt comfortable: surrounded by a group of friends. Infinite symbol was executive produced by Sia, a turn of events that came after Hilton appeared with the singer and Miley Cyrus to sing “Stars Are Blind” at Cyrus’ on NBC’s 2022 Miley’s New Year’s Eve party something special. The next day, Hilton flew home with Sia in her private jet and told her her dream of making more pop music, which Sia put into practice with sessions at her home.
“The first time I sang in front of her, I almost freaked out,” Hilton says. “I thought, this is the greatest songwriter and singer of our time, and I’m singing in front of her – and I’m so shy, but she literally brought out something in me that I didn’t even know I had. Before, I had more of a baby voice and was very breathy and had this Marilyn (Monroe) vibe. And then with this album, I just felt like a woman.”
Infinite symbol was recorded at Sia’s home, at Sunset Studios in LA, and at the studios Hilton built in that house and her other house not far from here.
The general sentiment is that everyone who worked on it is a best friend. Sia is “my guardian angel, my fairy godmother. I love her so much.” Meghan Trainor – “such a sweetheart. I love her. She’s my sister for life” – wrote two Infinite symbol Songs that she also sings on. Co-producer Jesse Shatkin, who produced Sia’s “Chandelier” among others, is “amazing,” while music video director Hannah Lux Davis is “so awesome.” The album is inspired by pop stars who were role models – “I always looked up to Madonna” – including those with whom Hilton was actually friends: “I always loved Britney.”
The project is also influenced by Hilton’s long-standing love of dance music, a relationship she’s built over the years by attending many of the world’s biggest parties. (“All my friends are begging me to go to Burning Man, and I’m like, ‘Guys, I have an album coming out next week. I can’t be there,'” she says when we speak during Burning Man week.) Of course, she’s also a long-time DJ herself.
“My DJ career has definitely had a big impact on me and my life and the creation of this album,” she says. “I perform all over the world at music festivals, in front of thousands of people, being on stage and really paying attention to what makes people dance and how to create those unforgettable moments on the dance floor – I wanted to bring that same energy into the album.” To that end Infinite symbol“Infinity” is pure, thrilling Tomorrowland food.
Other songs tackle more nuanced topics like her ADHD diagnosis, bad relationships, the love she says she has now found with Reum and her two young children (son Phoenix is 19 months old, daughter London turns one in November), the emptiness of fame and even death. These themes further the expansion of Hilton’s public image that began in 2020 with the release of her documentary. This is Paris.
In it, she recounted her experiences at Provo Canyon School, an involuntary youth residential school where she was taken against her will in 1997 at the age of 16. The documentary, which has been viewed 80 million times on YouTube alone, revealed the mental and physical abuse she experienced there. The film fit perfectly into the wider public reassessment of the misogynistic and often abusive treatment that many female celebrities (Britney Spears, Pamela Anderson, Janet Jackson, etc.) received from the media and culture in general during the Perez-Hlton era.
Hilton went deeper into her story in her 2023 memoir, copies of which an assistant hands out after the album listening session in the mansion’s office. The book details adventures like the time she and photographer David LaChapelle snuck into her grandparents’ house for an impromptu photo shoot (the grandparents were sleeping upstairs) — and more sensitive topics, like the release of a private sex tape against her will by an ex-partner that derailed her budding career when she was 19. (You could read the first half in one sitting on a Friday night in August, for example.)
“It was just such a therapeutic experience,” Hilton says of the documentary, “to dive into my life and really take the time to reflect on my life and everything I’ve been through and just see how strong and resilient I am and everything I’ve endured. Then it went to the next level with the book, where I went even deeper, and then through the music. So, yeah, I don’t think the album would have been as profound if I hadn’t done the documentary and then the book.”
She has a few live performances planned for the album and says that while she’s mostly focused on her family and business empire, she’d love to play Coachella (“that would be legendary”) and make music with Charli XCX. “I’m the original brat,” she says matter-of-factly.
“Every time I talked to (Charli),” she continues, “she said, ‘You’ve always been a huge inspiration for my music.’ So I think it makes so much sense for us to do a song together.” Fortunately, one of the few things that didn’t burn in the fire was a notebook filled with ideas for her third album.
All in all, one gets the impression that Paris Hilton is actually—in a phrase she trademarked in 2022—”living.” Given the heady but often toxic celebrity world she emerged from, it’s easy to see how things could have turned out differently for her. Instead, she has her family, a global business, and now the album she’s dreamed of for nearly 20 years. She’s sweet, and she seems happy.
“To be the blueprint for the modern star, to really redefine it and create a new kind of star, and to be someone who combines fashion, media, business and pop culture into a powerful personal brand — I’m proud of that,” she says. “I’m excited that so many people are now following in my footsteps and taking that blueprint and being able to create their own brands and their own businesses and live beautiful lives to support themselves.”
It may not be the future that even she dreamed of back when “Stars are Blind” was in the charts.
“It just makes me happy when I meet someone who says, ‘Thank you so much. You’re the reason I do what I do,'” she says. “Or, ‘If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t do what I do.’ Or, ‘Thank you so much for always being my role model.’ Growing up as a teenager and after everything I’ve been through, I never thought I’d ever hear something like that. So it was a huge affirmation for me.”
