he's an heiress, a socialite, an author and a Hollywood actress with beauty and clothing brands to her name. But for Hilton, who's dabbled in just about everything, becoming a media darling solely for her partying ways, and her famous last name, just won't do. Realizing a dream she's had since she was a young girl, Hilton has finally achieved something she's always wanted to do, record an album.   Hilton talks to Teen Tribute's Toni-Marie Ippolito about overcoming shyness, what it was like in the studio and how you simply cannot dislike her new disc -- a mix of pop, dance, reggae and rock.

Congratulations on your new album Paris (Warner). How do you feel now that it's all done? It's all going so fast! It's so exciting. The song (the lead single "Stars are Blind") leaked in Europe in like, 30 seconds so I had no idea this was all going to hit so fast. It's such a whirlwind and I'm so excited and so happy. What was the experience like in the studio? At first I was really shy but then after I started actually writing my music and getting really involved with it, I became really confident and couldn't get out the studio. I just loved being in the studio more than anything. I just gave up my whole life to be in there. Having written a lot of your songs, when did you find time given your busy schedule? Well, I travel to all these places like Japan and Australia and I'm on planes for over 12 hours at a time, so I write on the plane to the beats on my iPod and then record and write more in the studio. I just wanted to write an album about woman power and being confident and having fun. With everything you have going on why music? Why now? It's not like I just thought of this one day. I've been doing music since I was a little girl, since I was six. I played the piano and the violin and was in the orchestra. I've always had a musical background. No one ever knew that because I never showed it. Now that I am older I know this is what I want to do. It's been my dream ever since I was a little girl. I love music and I just wanted to make a really great album. You mention that you were shy at first? Has that changed now? Just after being in the studio a couple of times helped. At first it was hard having the whole record label there, with producers and 20 people watching you so its kind of uncomfortable the first couple of times. But after a while I just loved it. So, can you now bust out in song anywhere? Well… on stage I will! Will you being singing live? Yeah, we're doing rehearsals right now and auditions for dancers and getting all the girls ready to do the tour. Are there any artists that you admire or who have given you the motivation to sing? Madonna. I love Madonna, she's amazing. People don't identify you as a music artist yet. Do you like surprising people? I love surprising people. I think it's a lot of fun. I think when people do listen to the album they are shocked and they can't believe it. But you know, just because my last name is Hilton doesn't mean that I'm not talented and I can't do things. So it's kind of unfair when the media and people have this preconceived notion about you that I can't do anything and it's not really fair. But I think when they listen to the album you can't not like it. Describe the overall feel of the album. I love rock. I love hip hop. I love pop. I love dance. Most albums are just one type of music and with maybe two hits and the rest of the songs are so-so or really bad. So, I made sure that we didn't put anything on that was "so-so." I wanted it to be an eclectic mix so that everyone can listen to it. Even if you're like 60 years old you love to hear "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" and people love Rod Stewart. What's your favourite song on the album? I think "Stars are Blind" is perfect because it's summer and it's reggae and also a song called "Nothing in this World." You do a cover of the song "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy." How did that come about? I was with Scott Storch (producer) in L.A., at a club with me and Rod and his daughter and the song came on and Scott and I were already looking for a remake to do so he looked at Rod and said "Oh my God, Paris would be perfect for this song!" I was like, "You're right." So the next day we went into the studio and did it. You've recently filmed the video for "Stars are Blind." What was that like? It was fun and exciting. I always wanted to have my own music video. It was filmed in Malibu beach. Are you nervous about how your album will be received? You know, I can see that people are already gonna want to bash it, but that's just because of who I am. But that's not fair because I worked really hard and I put everything into this. This is something that is actually credible for me and something that I am so serious about. I don't mind what people say. I know that I love it and all my friends love it. Do you think you'll record another one? Definitely. We're writing right now. I've already got four songs done for the next album.