How any artist can have their own version of their own song is fascinating. Paris Hilton has now featured in the same paragraph as “fascinating”, presumably for the first time this decade. Her latest release, Stars Are Blind (Paris’ Version) (shortened now to Stars Are Blind for the sake of sanity), comes just days after her appearance alongside Miley Cyrus and Sia. Her clearly surprising appearance delighted those that enjoy moving themselves to the beat of nothing and engaging with the vapid scenarios proposed by Hilton’s releases as of late. Her “Paris’ Version” tag feels to be a strange slight to Taylor Swift’s Red Version. At least one has a reason for release.
This though is a usual blur of Amazon Original music, showcasing once and for all, it is not just bankrupt producers of movies peddling their wares to the lowest bidder. Its production is inherently sweet and well-layered. Stars Are Blind will always hold within it a decent beginning, a nice and gentle, if simple, guitar riff that pokes away at the synth overbalance. Still, by the time Hilton’s tuned-out, overproduced singing begins, any attempts at hearing that guitar are a lost cause. The inference that a rerelease must, fundamentally, be different to the original, is challenged by Hilton. No noticeable changes are made for this Amazon Original, beyond a poorer mix to that of the original which featured lyrics that imply men are inconsolable to the point of wishing for death when she walks away from them.
With that, Amazon latches onto a clear vanity project which is overdubbed and reworked with a tender lack of sincerity fitting of a brand owned by Jeff Bezos. It is as static and simple a reworking as can be expected of a careerist whose highlights include the chilling cries of the first release and the revival of the famous for the sake of its mentality. Credit to her, she does not have to do anything at all yet still does so, namely releasing a rerelease of a track that remains completely unchanged in the core fundamentals. That, genuinely, is bold. It is also a waste of time. Stars Are Blind is no different to that from the original beyond a sleepy, barely understandable overdub. Audio troubles bounce through with slithering, rattlesnake-like tinnitus qualities. Whether that is an intentional effect for this single or a spill of coffee on the mixing table is sincerely unknowable.
As far as rereleasing a song goes, there is no improvement or noticeable change made by Hilton here, beyond that of the stranger-sounding vocals. It is just as uninteresting and vaguely hints of pop reggae that Hilton experimented with on her debut record. The promise of something more to come, as her press release following a New Years’ appearance with Cyrus and Sia promised, is as chilling as it is welcoming. Gather around the contemporary bonfire. An already middling song damaged by a rerelease to cash in on what, exactly? An appearance that threw Hilton onto the stage with a microphone and two better singers beside her? Who knows, all there is to know is that Stars Are Blind, its new interpretation, is just the same as the first, but worse. Go figure.
