Paris (Paris Hilton album)

Untitled

Paris is Paris Hilton's debut album, released on her own Heiress Records label, in association with Warner Music. The album was released on August 19 in Australia, August 21 in the UK and in the U.S. on August 22 2006. The entire album was posted to the internet on August 13 2006 via AOL Music; nine days before the official release date. It was leaked to the Internet about a week before it was released. As of July 2007 2.5 million copies of Paris have been sold worldwide.

Album information

The album, that would eventually become Paris, took about three years to complete. Hilton first announced plans to record an album in 2003, when she started casually collaborating with producer Romeo Antonio. The initial demos they came up with were described as a "cross between Jessica Simpson and a dead ferret" and had a club-oriented sound. To date, none of those tracks have surfaced. Template:Sample box start variation 1 Template:Multi-listen start Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen end Template:Sample box end In 2004, she met producer Rob Boldt, along with Alex G and Riprock, and began recording some tracks. JC Chasez was even slated to offer Hilton some help in the studio, which he confirmed on On-Air with Ryan Seacrest in 2004, but nothing ever came from the idea. While collaborating with Boldt, Hilton somehow came across the Kara DioGuardi/Greg Wells-penned track, "Screwed," which for many months was rumored to be the first single. Hilton began talking about the song in many interviews, slating it as the first single for the album, which at that time was supposed to be released in late 2004. That summer, Haylie Duff said in an interview that "Screwed" had actually been pitched to her by the songwriters, and she was planning on releasing it as her debut single. A week after Duff's allegation, Hilton gave the track to LA radio station KIIS-FM to preview, and on the initial airing, it was ripped and leaked online as a low-quality mp3. The two girls fought for the song, and Hilton ultimately won since Duff lost her recording contract with Hollywood Records. Hilton began focusing more on her album, and launched her own record label, Heiress Records. During this time, she also mentioned her desire to work with Lil' Jon and Black Eyed Peas.

In 2005, Hilton was signed to Warner Bros. Records for distribution of her album. Hilton was then sent to work with producer Rob Cavallo, who has produced all of Green Day's album, as well as work for Jewel, Goo Goo Dolls, and Alanis Morissette. The direction of the album went towards a rock/pop sound, much in the vein that Avril Lavigne, Ashlee Simpson, and Hilary Duff were following. Hilton wanted to make a "Blondie meets the Go-Go's" sounding album, and she began to receive several demos from songwriters like Kay Hanley from Letters To Cleo, Kara DioGuardi, and Jane Wiedlin from the original girl-group the Go-Go's. Jane Wiedlin was even brought on to co-produce the album, but nothing materialized when Hilton held off working with Rob Cavallo's rock sound in favor of recording a more hip-hop savvy record with Scott Storch after meeting him in Miami.

When Hilton began working with Scott Storch, she then took the album very seriously, threw out all of the material she had recorded and began working on more hip-hop, club-friendly tracks. She also worked with Fernando Garibay, who produced her real debut single, Stars Are Blind. After months of collaboration, the album was finally complete and ready for release, and Hilton said she found her sound working with Storch.

Standard edition

1. "Turn It Up" (Scott Storch, Penelope Magnet, Jeff Bowden, Paris Hilton) – 3:12
2. "Fightin' Over Me" (featuring Fat Joe & Jadakiss) (Storch, Magnet, Fat Joe, Jadakiss, Jackson, Jackson, Hilton) – 4:01
3. "Stars Are Blind" (Fernando Garibay, Sheppard Solomon, Ralph McCarthy) – 3:56
4. "I Want You" (Jonathan "J.R." Rotem, DioGuardi, Bogart, Gibb) – 3:12
5. "Jealousy" (Storch, DioGuardi, Hilton) – 3:40
6. "Heartbeat" (Storch, Billy Steinberg, Josh Alexander) – 3:43
7. "Nothing in This World" (Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald, Solomon) – 3:10
8. "Screwed" (DioGuardi, Wells) – 3:41
9. "Not Leaving Without You" (Kara DioGuardi, Wells, Hilton) – 3:35
10. "Turn You On" (Storch, Hilton, Jackson, Jackson, Triggs) – 3:06
11. "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" (Stewart, Appice, Hitchings) – 4:34

Special Edition

The special edition featured the same songs as the standard edition, with a bonus DVD, containing:

1. Paris - The Music Special (featuring Making The Album and Behind the Scenes Footage)
2. Jealousy in the Studio

iTunes edition

Includes three extra remixes.

1. "Stars Are Blind" [The Scumfrog's Extreme Makeover Edit] – 4:57 (iTunes bonus track)
2. "Turn It Up" [Paul Oakenfold Remix Edit] – 4:59 (iTunes bonus track)
3. "Turn You On" [Claude Le Gache Le Club Edit] – 3:38 (iTunes bonus track)

Charts

The album debuted at #6 in the Billboard 200, selling 97,000 copies. Despite a promising start in its first week in the Billboard charts it was seen by critics as a big flop in her music career and did match the sales in the United States of another socialite and rival, Lindsay Lohan, whose 2004 debut Speak did fairly better than that of Paris Hilton's debut. It spent only one week in the top ten and 12 weeks in the Billboard 200, however, went on to earn itself a Platinum certification in the United States. Else where it did moderatly well. It has sold 2.5 million copies worldwide.

Chart performance

Chart (2006) Peak Australian ARIA Albums Chart 4 Austrian Albums Chart 9 Belgium Albums Chart 18 Brazilian Albums Chart 12 Canadian Albums Chart 4 Colombian Albums Chart 21 Dutch Albums Chart 18 Finnish Top 40 Albums 17 French Top 200 Albums 67 German Top 50 Albums 18 Greek Top 50 International Albums 11 Hungarian Top 40 Albums 40 Italian TOP 100 albums 26 Irish Top 100 Albums 17 Irish iTunes Top 100 Albums 14 Japanese Oricon Albums Chart 8 New Zealand Albums Chart 16 Swedish Top 60 Albums 6 Spanish Top 100 Albums 98 Swiss Albums Chart 7 UK Albums Chart 9 Poland ZPAV/OLIS Chart 56 U.S. Billboard 200 6 World Albums Chart 6 Album Sales USA: 670,000 *Gold Canada: 180,000 *Platinum United Kingdom: 100,000 *Gold Australia: 70,000 *Platinum Japan: 60,000 Total European Sales: 470,000 Total Asian Sales: 600,000 Total World Sales: 2,100,000 Confirmed unreleased songs These songs confirmed to be recorded by Paris during 2003-2006 and, to date, remain unreleased. Lonliness Party That Never Ends Hard On Me Heart of Glass (Blondie cover) Fame (David Bowie cover) Wise Up That's Hot Are You With It? It's Like That Love Me For Me Screwed (Original Rob Boldt production) August/September UK CD Prank In August/September of 2006 British graffiti artist Banksy and hip-hop producer Danger Mouse replaced 500 copies of Paris Hilton's album in British music stores with altered album artwork of Paris Hilton topless with a dog head and a 40 minute instrumental song containing various statements she had made. Notes External links Paris Hilton Music In-depth music section of ParisHiltonSite.net Paris Hilton Album Songs, Lyrics and much more... Paris Hilton Posters Paris Hilton Posters and Prints... Paris Hilton Just Me Album info and mp3 samples... Paris review for the (London) Guardian by Alexis Petridis