Will Paris burn?

Hilton has recorded a cover version of Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy," although it remains uncertain whether the song will make it onto her album. And according to DioGuardi, another song on the CD, "Jealousy," deals with the heiress' public fracture with her former BFF (and costar on the reality TV series "The Simple Life") Nicole Richie. "It's about the deterioration of a relationship she had with a friend of hers," DioGuardi explains of "Jealousy." "She talks about how one day she hopes they'll be back together." Never mind that they won't so much as make eye contact while filming their show.

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Under wraps for a change

SO far, Warner Bros. has micromanaged when and where Hilton's music has been played and kept most music critics out of the loop. But label executives allowed a reporter to preview four tracks that will appear on the album. The bass-heavy Storch-produced club banger "Turn It Up" surrounds Hilton's competent, kittenish singing voice with orgasmic squeals and suggestive panting -- think of it as the musical companion to her sex tape.

"Jealousy" rocks harder, shot through with guitars, violins and plaintive lyrics. "You're not the girl I once knew," she sings. "Tell me where she is 'cause she's not you." On "Fighting Over Me" (featuring Fat Joe and Jadakiss), her "collabo" in the vein of LL Cool J and Lopez's recent rap-R&B hybrid, "Control Myself," Hilton busts a rhyme over a hip-hop beat: "Every time I turn around, boys are fightin' over me / Maybe 'cause I'm hot to death and so, so, so \o7sex-ee\f7." And the reggae-tinged "Stars Are Blind" is a solid pop offering that highlights Hilton's vocal similarities to Gwen Stefani. Over a stuttering electronic beat, the heiress' helium-high voice trills about new love with refreshing sincerity.

The quality of her backing tracks and choice of songwriting collaborators is of uniform high quality, but nothing overshadows Hilton's implacable sense of self, which lends immediacy to her singing. Beverly Sills she obviously is not. But the socialite's music ultimately achieves its purpose as a saccharine sweet, pop-y diversion.

"It's a record for her to dance on banquettes to," says Craig Marks, editor in chief of Blender, who chose Hilton for the magazine's milestone fifth anniversary issue, which hits shelves next month, more for her track record of making magazines fly off the newsstand than any musical bona fides. Nonetheless, he has heard several finished tracks and says her album is not without its merit.