“My heart beats like a drum…when I hear you come…”
2021 is wild, to say the absolute least.
Perfumer, pop star, and soon-to-be podcaster Paris Hilton‘s 2006 studio album debut, Paris, is an objectively solid offering of breathy, boastful, swoon-filled mid-’00s dance-rock-pop fun, and a time capsule of tabloid frenzy-era pop culture – which is certainly having a moment of reckoning and reexamination over the past week.
Yes, everyone already knows “Stars Are Blind” is good, if to an annoying degree. But there are equally good, if not better songs deeper inside, like “Nothing In This World,” “Turn It Up” and “Jealousy,” which deserves its own Lifetime TV Original based on the fierce battle over the track between herself and Haylie Duff.
Another such gem is “Heartbeat,” a “Time After Time”-biting soft and dreamy ’80s-inspired ballad, produced by Scott Storch and co-penned by the truly legendary Billy Steinberg, of Madonna and Whitney Houston fame.
And now, 15 years later and a few days short of Valentine’s Day, she’s decided to give the song an official video on Friday (February 12). How do you describe a feeling? I’ve…only ever dreamt of this…
The music video is, well, a Paris Hilton-style ethereal forest nymph-princess-model fever dream (very Fantasy in the buff), full of body glitter, bottles of perfume, disco balls and photo shoots and fancy clothes – plus her real-life boyfriend, Carter Reum.
“I’ve been listening to [Paris] so much with my boyfriend. In 2006, I didn’t even know what love was, but the words to [‘Heartbeat’] finally have meaning. It describes the way I feel for him so much that I was like, ‘I have to do a music video.’ I thought it’d be perfect to release around Valentine’s Day, just as a celebration of finally having true love,” she explained to Paper, calling it “one of my favorite videos I’ve ever done.”
It’s also her makeup artist Etienne Ortega‘s directorial debut, who asked her for years to make a video with the Paris deep cut. (Taste.)
As part of the interview, Paris also reflected on her record overall, and the resulting reception from the general public.
“My album was definitely before its time just like everything I do. During that time, people loved being mean and it was this misogynistic view, which I felt when certain people such as myself put out anything. There were these haters. I feel like it’s so different now, especially with how people are treating women. As a society, people have come a long way and if [Paris] would’ve come out today, people would’ve not been mean at all.”
She also teased that she has eight songs ready for an upcoming record. (Granted, we’ve been promised another album since 2006…)
“I definitely want to do another album…I’d love to put another album together, like the 2021 version of Paris,” she said.
Normally, I’d say that’s just wishful thinking for us, the loyal Little Hiltons. But when she’s out here producing music videos for decade-and-a-half-old deep cut classics, truly, you never really know what Paris might do next. (“Turn You On” next, please…)
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