Paris Hilton: I'm a businesswoman, artist, singer and designer

Paris Hilton: I'm a businesswoman, artist, singer and designer

American socialite and sometime-actress Paris Hilton sees herself as a brand and businesswoman, not a DJ.

DJing, which she was in Singapore to do on Sunday night, is something that she does because she likes to party, says the poised 32-year-old blonde heiress, whose great-grandfather founded the Hilton Hotels chain.

Hilton, who has her own line of apparel and accessories sold in 50 stores worldwide, tells Life!: "I do so many things, I don't consider myself a DJ. I'm a businesswoman, I'm a brand, I'm an artist, I'm a singer, I'm a designer."

She arrived for her DJ gig at Japanese, French and Chinese restaurant Me@OUE in Collyer Quay fashionably late - at about 1.30am, 11/2 hours later than scheduled.

She came in a short, sexy but elegant black lace dress by New York label Alice + Olivia and her signature Chanel leather gloves - she has more than 100 pairs - which were complemented by her sparkly silver nails, her luscious locks perfectly curled and dewy skin, flawless.

Her DJ engagement was for a Formula One SingTel Singapore Grand Prix after-party held at the restaurant's new alfresco rooftop lounge.

"DJing is something that I do because I love to party, love to make people dance, have fun, smile, have a good time and it's something that I'm good at," says Hilton, who learnt the skills from her friend DJ AM more than 10 years ago.

She made her DJing debut at Brazil's Pop Music Festival last year when she was given an offer to close for Jennifer Lopez. "I thought, that sounds fun, so I did it. I had so much fun," she adds.

Her public DJing debut received plenty of flak from top DJs and online media reported that she had been booed. Of the negative feedback, she says: "People love to make up stories because what I read was not what happened. I think one weird blogger who wasn't even there made up a story and said I was booed, which never happened.

"Everyone in the audience was screaming, clapping, so excited, so happy. There was not one single person being negative."

She adds: "It just bums me out that people like to make up lies and then the lies will spread online so quickly and people assume it's the truth when it's the furthest thing from the truth."

Receiving harsh criticism is something that she has "gotten used to over the years".

She made headlines for her sex tape with then- boyfriend Rick Salomon which was circulated online in 2003, her drink driving in 2006 and then jail-time for that negligent act in 2007.

While her reality TV series, The Simple Life (2003-2007) - about her and fellow socialite and fashion designer Nicole Richie trying out ordinary living - was fairly well received, her appearances in movies such as The Hottie And The Nottie (2008) were mostly slammed.

At the Me@OUE party, which was attended by about 500 people, Hilton was mobbed by fans and she politely acceded to requests for photographs before making her way to the DJ console. Songs in her set that got the crowd grooving included Daft Punk's Get Lucky and Icona Pop's I Love It. But most of the partygoers were more interested in shooting videos of her with their smartphones.

Hilton, who is dating Spanish model River Viiperi, plans to focus more on music. On Oct 1, she releases a new single, Good Time, which features her and Lil Wayne. It is produced by Dutch music producer and DJ Afrojack.

She says: "With me, I'm very lucky... a lot of the times, (with) my job, I get to have a lot of fun, like hosting parties and DJing and getting to travel around the world and meet amazing people, and stay in incredible hotels. So I feel really blessed and grateful and I love it."

rltan@sph.com.sg


Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

This website is best viewed using the latest versions of web browsers.