It started in 2020. No, not talking about rona. But rather, the “rediscovery” of “Stars Are Blind” with the release of Promising Young Woman. Although the movie’s theatrical debut was delayed a few times, like so many others last year, it didn’t stop the trailer, complete with its use of the song, from being shown repeatedly. And since Hilton has always been keen to style herself as a musician, even if only from a DJ perspective, she was all too eager to embrace the film (cut to: the Academy Awards after-party scene, when Hilton was sure to get a snap with writer-director Emerald Fennell).
Never mind that it would be totally implausible for Cassie Thomas’ (Carey Mulligan) love interest, Ryan Cooper (Bo Burnham), to actually be aware of the lyrics to the song, let alone remember them well enough from over a decade ago to sing along gleefully in a drugstore. That wasn’t the point. The purpose, instead, as Fennell stated, was to highlight specific women who “maybe haven’t been taken seriously, maybe survived things, maybe made the best out of things that were difficult.” If anyone fits that bill (apart from Britney Spears, who also gets a nod in the film with “Toxic”), it’s Hilton, a member of the unofficial coterie of “00s goddesses.” This pantheon also includes, much to Hilton’s chagrin, Lindsay Lohan. Though, alas, there is no sign of “Rumors” to be found on the Promising Young Woman Soundtrack (or even a deeper cut, “Over”).
In any case, the Oscar-winning film—yes, Hilton can now say she’s a part of contributing to the success of a movie that became one of the 2021 darlings of the Academy Awards—has most definitely been well-timed to coincide with the fifteenth anniversary of the song, released on June 5, 2006. The same year Lohan came out with another nosedive of a movie called, appropriately, Just My Luck. While ’06 might not have been Paris’ nemesis’ year (“Bimbo Summit” glom-on or not), it was certainly hers. Even if few critics were willing to outright admit to the song’s goodness without throwing shade at the time. Case in point, a smattering of reviews consisted of such assessments as, “…on ‘Stars Are Blind,’ the combination of tinny cod-reggae and your-call-is-being-held-in-a-queue vocal technique results in something so plasticky, it’s perversely enjoyable.” Heavens no! We can’t say something fully positive about Hilton’s single or that would make us “gay” (as in the 00s version of gay, when it used as a slur for being stupid or lame).
There was also the reluctant admission, “Even the plinky pop-reggae, never a good look, of single ‘Stars Are Blind’ manages to ingratiate itself eventually.” All of these backhanded compliments serve to emphasize the precise reason why Fennell was so adamant about using “Stars Are Blind” in the first place, for as she remarked of wanting to use seemingly “frothy” elements to accent the contrastingly dark innerworkings of the main character, “You often find this with pop music or popular culture—particularly pop culture that young women—like is treated ironically or it’s treated like a guilty pleasure… The whole movie in general, I wanted to make sure these things we think of as silly and our culture dismisses like clothes, makeup, pop music, stuff that some women—not all women—enjoy, take it seriously.” And why shouldn’t they? The type of emotions and narratives one can glean from pop music is of the variety a girl can never get in real life, which is why the pop song is the modern version of a fairy tale.
Yet the still male-dominated dominion of music and pop culture criticism—especially in the 00s—couldn’t abide such reasoning, which is why a rag like Complex (kind of the worst) placed the song on its list for the “50 Awesome Guilty Pleasure Songs We’re Ashamed to Like (But Not Really),” assessing, “‘Stars Are Blind’ was a flash in the pan, a fluke, but an incredible one. We’ll never get something like this from Paris Hilton again.” In contrast, Fennell asserted that she used the bop for the soundtrack purely because it’s an unmitigatedly “brilliant song,” without making any kind of claim that Paris would never (or hasn’t already) achieve something greater. No undercutting quip about it necessary. Nor was it for use of one of Britney’s hits either, with Fennell adding, “I’ve always loved Britney Spears and I think ‘Toxic’ is one of the greatest songs ever written.” Lady Gaga, instead, went on the record in ’09 to tell Paris she felt “Stars Are Blind” was “one of the greatest records ever” (evidently counting single releases as entire records).
Paris herself was wont to self-promote with the infamously braggadocious quote, “I, like, cry when I listen to it. It’s so good.” But that was during an era when no one was willing to take such a comment seriously. Fifteen years on, the sudden re-appreciation of Paris Hilton’s most iconic contribution to music (though some might argue it’s now “My Best Friend’s Ass,” followed by “Drunk Text”) is just as filled with sweet revenge cachet as Promising Young Woman itself. Nonetheless, Hilton won’t be vindicated by all listeners, namely those still unwilling to accept her as a talent beyond the one for being born rich. Yet even having money didn’t seem to make Paris transcend into a full-fledged pop star. For the ditty might have been from a self-titled debut called Paris, but no one paid much attention to any other track on there—as titillating as her remake of Rod Stewart’s “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” was.
Hilton undoubtedly has a complicated past in terms of “legitimizing” herself for the present—what with being a Trump supporter before it became “utterly uncool” (was it ever not?) and tossing the n-word around lightly in the mid-00s—but she’s one-upped many others in her sistren to continue remaining at the forefront of the public eye (including with her recent documentary, This Is Paris). And this even after she was briefly eclipsed by her protégée, Kim Kardashian (who herself attempted a single that never quite caught on anyone’s radar, “Jam [Turn It Up],” perhaps as a result of being too Auto-Tuned into generic oblivion to be pinpointable to any one “celebutante”).
As for “La Lohan,” her own musical career—and any ostensible nostalgia from the public for it—has remained dormant. Her film “career”? Perhaps not so much. Sounding like equal parts a parody of Hilton’s life meets the plot of Overboard, Netflix announced, “Lindsay Lohan will star in a romantic comedy about a newly engaged and spoiled hotel heiress who finds herself in the care of a handsome, blue-collar lodge owner and his precocious daughter after getting total amnesia in a skiing accident.” Also, isn’t that kind of insensitive to Lohan’s former The Parent Trap co-star, Natasha Richardson?
As for Fennell, getting Hilton’s permission to use the song in what has now become an instant classic in movie scene history, was one of the best things she could have done for the film. Paris, too, being the business savvy bia she is, likely knew that having it featured in this more macabre context would also breathe new life into the single. For the lyrics mirror the very sentiments Cassie feels as Paris chirpily drones, “I don’t mind spending some time/Just hanging here with you/‘Cause I don’t find too many guys/That treat me like you do/Those other guys, they wanna take me for a ride/But when I walk, they talk of suicide/Some people never get beyond their stupid pride.” Paris has certainly been forced to more than a few times in her storied history as a reality star/socialite of the people. And maybe that’s why the sudden rekindling of enthusiasm for “Stars Are Blind” probably doesn’t mean as much to her as it once might have. But alas, sometimes the public and the media just aren’t ready to accept pop culture greatness when it’s placed right at their ear canals.
Incidentally, a script on the Black List called Paris and Lindsay (for now) also seems to spell more fervor for 00s nostalgia for the foreseeable future. Because, sure, even though it was a time rife with misogyny and the continued reign of men like Harvey Weinstein, it was, by the same token, a simpler time, when the social media scene wasn’t yet all-consuming and quaint technology like Sidekicks and Razrs were the height of sophistication. Not to mention Paris’ signature thong string hanging out of her ultra-low-rise jeans.
For more on the 00s celebrity culture, check out this book.
agreed, remarkable of you 🤩