There are few people with more authority on fame than Paris Hilton and Sia. Both are longtime fixtures of global public consciousness: Sia for her music, songwriting and singular voice, Hilton for her mid-aughts party girl public persona, her reality series The Simple Life, her sprawling business, her 2020 documentary and 2023 memoir — both of which offered a revised look at what was happening behind the scenes for Hilton amid the apex of her fame — and of course, for her 2006 classic pop banger, “Stars Are Blind.”
All of this history amalgamates into “Fame Won’t Love You,” a collaborative track by co-written and co-sung Hilton and Sia out today (April 19.) A treatise on fame as an ultimately emptier vessel than real love, the chest-thumping anthem is the lead single from Hilton’s forthcoming second album. Her first LP in 18 years, the project is out in June and was executive produced by Sia. This meeting of minds came to be after a fortuitous meeting on New Year’s Eve 2023, when the two women, along with Miley Cyrus, gathered to perform “Stars Are Blind” on Cyrus’ holiday special.
It was an encounter that lead to Hilton going to Sia’s house in L.A. to eat pasta, talk, hang out with the dogs and make music. Other songs from Hilton’s album, the title of which has not yet been announced, are intriguingly called “ADHD” and “Bad Bitch Academy,” with Sia saying that some of the music has a “cool early 2000s Britney” vibe. “Fame Won’t Love You” also comes ahead of Sia’s forthcoming LP, Reasonable Woman, which is out in May and will feature collaborates including Hilton, Labrinth and Chaka Khan.
Talking to Billboard over Zoom, here Hilton and Sia discuss fame, the song they wrote about it, the “Stars Are Blind” renaissance and more.
Let’s talk about this song. How you two end up working together?
Sia: Well, we [performed on Miley Cyrus’ New Year’s Eve special] on the new year’s before last. Paris was so nervous, and I was so hot, because I had my wig on and it was boiling hot because it was in Miami. So Paris was dying of nervousness, and I was dying of heat. I went up to her and I was like, “It’s going to be okay. You’re going to be amazing. You can do it.” Then she put her fan on me, and she made me cool. I just felt like our friendship was formed in that moment, where it was not a give/give relationship, it was a give, take, give relationship. It was the kind of reciprocal relationship that I only like to engage in.
Then what happened?
Sia: That night I said to Paris, “What’s your big dream?” and she said “To put out an album.” I was like, “Well, we can do that. I’ll source some songs, and write a couple songs, and I’ll try and help you put an album together, because you can totally do it.” She was very darling. She said, “Thanks for believing in me.”
Paris, what do you remember from from that interaction?
Paris Hilton: Well, when Miley called me and asked me to sing “Stars Are Blind” with her and Sia on New Year’s Eve, I was like, “Oh my god.” I was planning on just going with my husband to Maui and having a nice, relaxing New Year’s Eve. Then when I got that call I was like, “This is too iconic to say no to. I have to do this.”
And you were nervous?
Paris Hilton: I was so nervous, and Sia and Miley were so kind and supportive and made me feel so comfortable, and we just killed it out there. The next day Sia asked if I wanted to fly home with her on her plane, and we went and she said, “You were born to be a pop star.” I said “That’s always been my dream.” She was like, “Well, what about if we did a record?” I was so excited, because I’ve always been such a huge fan. Sia is the greatest songwriter of our time. She’s so brilliant, so talented, and just so amazing. So this has just been a dream come true. She’s one of the kindest, sweetest angels, and I feel that she really came into my life for a reason.
Obviously the song is about how fame can’t give you real love. As two extremely famous people, what’s your take on that message?
Paris Hilton: For me growing up, I put so much of my self worth and happiness on things like fame or beauty and things that in the long run don’t matter as much as family. Now, with becoming a wife and a mother with my son and my daughter, I know what’s important in life and what really makes me feel happy. Because all the thought things I thought were so important often times left me feeling really empty and alone.
What’s brought me deep fulfillment in life now is just building my family with [husband] Carter [Reum] and deepening my relationships with my family and friends… Seeing that so many people put so much of their happiness or self worth on fame or striving to be famous, I just want to let them know that, yes, there’s amazing parts of it, but it’s not everything. It won’t bring you true happiness.
There’s the line in the chorus that goes “fame won’t love you like a mother.” You’re both moms — how has becoming mothers changed your relationship with fame?
Sia: I’ll say it’s better than any drug. It’s better than anyone laughing at my jokes. It’s better than anyone clapping at my singing. It’s better than getting an award. It’s better than singing with someone I’ve admired for a million years. It’s better than all of that. It’s enriching.
Paris Hilton: I’m going to cry. Oh my god.
Paris, as Sia was saying, being a pop star and making another album was a longtime dream for you. Why is it happening now?
Paris Hilton: I’ve just been focused. I have my media company, 11:11 Media; I have my 30 fragrances, my 19 product lines. I’ve been running my businesses and being a mogul.
But music has always been my passion; music is the thing that has always made me happy. It’s what I love to do. I love being a businesswoman and entrepreneur, that is fantastic, but the thing that makes me most happy is being on stage performing and making music.
What are your strongest memories of the recording session?
Paris Hilton: Being in the studio with Sia at her house, I literally didn’t even know I could sing the way I did. She brought something out of me that nobody ever has. Because I never ever really felt comfortable with people in the studio. No one really knows this, but I’m actually a very shy person, like painfully shy. But with her, I just feel so comfortable so I really sang in ways that I never knew were possible.
Sia: You really let your freak flag fly. It was amazing. You just put your fists down and sort of of stomped on the ground and sang in the loudest voice I’ve ever heard you sing. It was so beautiful. It was like a liberation of sorts.
Paris, what was that like for you to know that there was more to your vocal range?
Paris Hilton: I feel like this whole past year has been about reclaiming my voice — emotionally, physically, in every single way. It was almost like my real voice came through to my music instead of the voice that everyone would expect, the sexy, kind of breathy baby doll voice.
Your 2020 documentary revealed a lot about your history that the public didn’t know about. Did releasing that film help you find your voice and a new level authority? And did it change your relationship with fame, in terms of people knowing more about where you’re coming from?
Paris Hilton: Oh, yeah. I will always be so grateful to Alexandra Dean, the director, for just being there for me and having me trust her [so I could] open up to her. Because that was the first time I was actually real. That documentary changed my life and took me on this journey from then, to doing my memoir, and now with all my advocacy work. My entire life has changed in so many ways. And again, like with this song, I realized the most beautiful thing about me is my heart.
Sia: Yes!
Paris Hilton: It has nothing to do with beauty or fame. It’s all about the inside and being kind. That’s a message that’s really important to me. I want to make being kind iconic.
Sia: I watched that documentary before I really knew Paris, and it made me feel me feel trauma bonded to her. When I did finally meet her, I felt like I was meeting a real person, because the breathy voice thing — she’s in on the act. Anyone that doesn’t know has been fooled. She knows what’s going on, and it’s so amazing to see what a f—ing genius she is in real life. It’s amazing to see when she has to do that, when she doesn’t have to do that. Her vast range is quite inspiring.
You mentioned performing “Stars Are Blind” on New Year’s Eve. I just recently watched Promising Young Woman, and of course that song was used so brilliantly in that film. Paris, what has it been like to experience this resurgence of love for that song?
Paris Hilton: “Stars Are Blind” has always been such a huge part of my life. It’s like, the anthem of my life. To have people love it and for it to be so timeless, and for people to say it’s their favorite song and it’s the song they got married to, or it being in films like [Promising Young Woman], it just makes me feel so proud.
Sia: I love that songs, and that’s also why I said to you on the plane “You were born to be a pop star. I don’t know why you stopped.” We rectified it.
Paris, your album comes out in June and Sia your album is out May. In terms of streaming numbers and charts and all that stuff, what does success for these two albums look like for you both?
Sia: Oh, I don’t care about that stuff. If it comes out and then touches one person, groovy. What about you Paris?
Paris Hilton: This is a dream come true, and doing this with Sia. My fans have been waiting since my last album. This is dedicated to all of them. I just want to make music that makes people smile and feel great and feel empowered and maybe cry.
Sia: Okay, I want that too. I want that too for my fans!
Paris Hilton: Music is so healing. Music has saved my life in so many ways, so to be able to make it for my fans and celebrate something that I love to do so much and now have the most incredible memories of Sia and all of our friends making this record… For me, that’s a huge success already.
