Bearing her brand

AS Paris Hilton sees it, her main problem is that people don't understand how hard she works. "People are going to judge me: 'Paris Hilton, she uses money to get what she wants.' Whatever," she said. "I haven't accepted money from my parents since I was 18. I've worked my ass off. I have things no heiress has. I've done it all on my own, like a hustler."

It was a recent sweltering morning, and the socialite, 25, was speaking at her three-story compound up a winding hill in West Hollywood, within valet parking range of some of the city's hottest nightlife. Fresh from a hair and makeup session that a publicist said cost $10,000, she had descended her marble staircase, passed under the gaze of several poster-sized vanity portraits of herself, breezed by the chrome stripper pole she uses as an exercise prop ("It's great for parties," she said) and settled herself into a white sofa beneath a black Baccarat chandelier.

The professional celebutante and heir to the Hilton hotel fortune will release her debut album, "Paris," on Warner Bros. Records next week (she makes an in-store appearance at a West L.A. Best Buy tonight at 7). After that, Hilton will disseminate what she calls "the brand of Paris Hilton" even more widely, and more lucratively. She has signed off on signature lines of lingerie, shoes, bathing suits, makeup, wigs, purses, an energy drink, a video game and champagne in a can -- all meant to land not on the shelves of, say, Kitson but at the average Middle American mall. She also intends to open several restaurants and has begun developing properties for what she calls a "boutique hotel chain," to be called Paris, that will remain unaffiliated with her parents' worldwide franchise.

But first, she wanted to straighten out a few misconceptions. Chief among them: "The whole 'party girl heiress' thing, I'm over it," Hilton said. "I'm really serious as an artist. I'm a businesswoman."

A hustler, if you will.

Hilton's reggae-tinged lead single, "Stars Are Blind," is already a hit. It became the most requested single at radio stations in New York and Los Angeles upon its release in June and one of the most downloaded songs on iTunes, her latest unexpected success after her bestselling book and hot-selling perfume line.

"I do everything step by step in a certain order," Hilton said. "The book, the perfume, the show, the album. I wanted to do the album last because I wanted to do it like no one else has ever done it before. I don't think there's ever been anyone like me that's lasted. And I'm going to keep on lasting."