Now listen to the praise: "Her fans are not responding to the concept of her fame for fame's sake," he says. "They're responding to her personality. The blankness. I'm not saying it as a diss. She has the quality of allowing any viewer to project whatever they want on her. That's why she transcends all media."
Oakenfold has remixed songs for many of the biggest acts in the music industry, including Madonna, Jennifer Lopez and U2. But he initially blanched at the idea of remixing one of Hilton's songs when Warner Bros. executives approached him. Oakenfold was ultimately persuaded to take the gig, however, after hearing "Turn It Up"; his remix of the song has become an established part of his set.
Like most Hilton followers, he had prepared himself for the worst. "I was surprised at how good her vocal was," the DJ says. "I've gotten a lot of good response on it. A lot of DJs who go on after me ask who it is. I say Paris Hilton and they're really surprised."
In an age where public recognizability affects record sales more than an impressive vocal range, it's tempting to assume studio wizardry compensated for Hilton's lack of formal musical training. But several of her collaborators insist technology played no part in fleshing out her singing. "You can try and use auto tuning and all kinds of stuff like that," Storch says, "but it doesn't sound natural. I'm not gonna do Milli Vanilli or anything like that."
For Gottwald, who co-wrote and produced a song for her album called "Nothing in This World," placing Hilton's distinctive voice front and center was job one. "She has a really cool tone, particularly in the lower register," he says. "So I didn't want to make a song where Paris was copying anybody else."
And so far, fan response has been promising. At Miami's Winter Music Conference last month, the heiress joined Oakenfold in the DJ booth for the midnight set moment when he played "Turn It Up" -- an event captured by filmmaker Adria Petty (daughter of rocker Tom) who is shooting a documentary about the making of the album.
When the song came on, "You could see the whole place was dancing," Oakenfold remembers. "She was really happy with it. The whole place was going crazy."
