Paris Hilton calls us in the middle of the day from a hair salon. The socialite, reality star, entrepreneur, musician and DJ (woah) is on the line to talk about her music. She’s fresh off a trip to Miami, where she played to a packed crowd during Miami Music Week—and partied so hard her crater-sized engagement ring flew off her finger. Now back home in California, we chatted with Hilton about her new sound, the scary ring incident and where you’re likely to spot her the next time she comes to town.
Paris was my favorite album of 2006. Do you think you’ll make music like that again?
Aw, thank you so much. That means a lot. The music was like so pop and so fun. That album was a lot of fun to record—every song on it was good, there were no fillers. But now my sound has changed to more EDM and dance music. People have been asking me to do a tour with the album. It could be fun but I haven’t decided yet. My schedule is really crazy.
I read conflicting stories about your new single, “I Need You”: one that the song was written in 2008 with the Madden brothers and another that you wrote it with producer Michael Green. What’s the real story?
Michael and I wrote it years ago and I thought it would be perfect to release now for Valentine’s Day. I complete re did it, the vocals and a little bit of the beat were brand new.
You were just in Miami for Miami Music Week and Ultra. How does the city compare to your usual gigs in Vegas and Ibiza?
I love Miami. I’ve been going there since I was a teenager and the energy is just amazing. It’s so much fun. Ibiza is another level, it’s more about the mega dance clubs and Miami has turned more loungy. But during Ultra, Miami feels like Ibiza because every one of my friends who are in Ibiza during the summer is there.
Do you adjust your set for each city?
I’ve never played the same set twice in my life. Every single time I perform somewhere, it’s always different. I usually put together like nine hours of music for each set. I don’t really plan an order, just read the crowd and see what they’re feeling: Do they like hip-hop? Are they more of an EDM crowd?
What are your sets normally like?
Everyone is just always dancing and jumping and just having the best time. That’s just how my sets always are. I like it to be high energy and people having the time of their lives. I play music that makes you want to jump, bounce and go crazy. I do that everywhere I go.
What songs do you play to get the crowd hyped?
Every song I play, it’s like, people never stop jumping. I’m very lucky. A song that they really love and go crazy for is a “Bounce Generation” remix I have. Another is Bingo Players’ “Rattle” mixed with Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” It makes people go insane.
You lost your engagement ring during MMW. How did that happen?
Above and Beyond was playing and the drop they played was so sick that I just jumped in the air and was fist-pumping with my hand open and it just literally flew off. It was crazy. So, from now on, always closed fists when I’m dancing.
Were you scared?
It was the most terrifying moment of my life. I didn’t want anyone to know I’d lost it so I just pretended I was looking for my phone on the floor. Thank God my fiancé found it in a bucket of ice three tables over. It was a miracle. It was one of the happiest moments of my life.
Where do you stay when you’re in Miami?
I love staying at the W South Beach but this trip was my first time staying at the Me, which is literally three minutes away from Ultra so that’s going to be my new spot because traffic is just a nightmare going back and forth from the city.
Where do you go in Miami when you’re not working?
I love shopping at Bal Harbour because it has all the best stores. I love going to that movie theater [Regal South Beach] and walking on the street with no cars and all the dope stores, [Lincoln Road]. And going to LIV and Joe’s Stone Crab, it’s so good.
Do you have time for anything else these days, work-wise?
I’ve always been a huge tech geek and I’m working with some developers to make my own Paris Hilton virtual reality world app. It’s going to be next level—really innovative with a new social media platform where people can be in a virtual world and communicate with each other. It’s really exciting. It launches sometime toward the end of the year.
Speaking of social media. I always see you use the flame emoji.
I love that we can now speak with emojis. Instead of writing “that’s hot” or “lit,” I just put the fire emoji, which basically means the same thing in 2018 lingo.
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