"Stars Are Blind" is the debut single recorded by American media personality and socialite Paris Hilton for her debut studio albumParis. It was released as the lead single from the album on June 5, 2006, by Warner Bros. Records. The song was written by Fernando Garibay, Sheppard Solomon and Ralph McCarthy, and produced by Garibay with additional production by Solomon. "Stars Are Blind" is a mid-tempo reggae fusion song. "Stars Are Blind" was well received by music critics. It peaked at number 18 on the US BillboardHot 100 and topped the BillboardDance Club Songs chart. Worldwide, the single topped the charts in Hungary, Scotland, and Slovakia while reaching the top 10 in Australia, Canada, Venezuela, and more than 10 European countries. A reggaetonremix featuring the Puerto Rican duo Wisin & Yandel was released in Latin America, receiving heavy airplay and achieving club success in countries like Colombia, Ecuador, Chile and Venezuela.
Reception
Critical response
"Stars Are Blind" received positive reviews from music critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic called it "a breezy track". Sal Cinquemani from Slant says that "Paris's debut single, "Stars Are Blind", has been the surprise of the summer, Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous" notwithstanding; it's a sunny, reggae-hued love song that has eclipsed new singles by some of music's biggest stars". Leah Greenblatt from Entertainment Weekly called it "a summery island groove". Alexis Petridis from The Guardian said that "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". Mark Daniels from Yahoo! Music said, "Even the plinky pop-reggae, never a good look, of single 'Stars Are Blind' manages to ingratiate itself eventually". Ernest Baker from Complex listed the song was one of the "50 Awesome Guilty Pleasure Songs We're Ashamed to Like ", and stated that "the song was like a tropical escape from her tabloid headline persona. Instead, you had what seemed liked sincere emotions from the socialite incorporated into a ridiculously well-written record, over spot-on production. '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". He finished saying that this was Hilton's greatest contribution to society.
Chart performance
"Stars Are Blind" was one of the highest debuting singles in the U.S. in 2006, entering the Billboard Hot 100 at number 18 due to strong digital sales. It had previously debuted at number two on the U.S. Bubbling Under Billboard Hot 100 Chart.
Music video
The accompanying music video for "Stars Are Blind" was shot in two days in May 2006, in Malibu, California, and was directed by Chris Applebaum. The video for the song features many images of her walking and rolling around on the beach with a lover. It premiered on June 6, 2006 on MTV. "Shooting the music video was so much fun, and I had the best time doing it, and was so proud when it came out and everyone loved it so much", said Hilton. The video was listed as one of the 50 worst videos of all time by NME at number 49. The magazine stated, "So this is what you can do when your daddy has buckets of money – pay someone to film you roll around in a bikini in the sand with a guy in order to distract us from the fact that you've been auto-tuned to high heaven. Good on you, Paris Hilton – you successfully created something that sucked more than the song itself. A second version of the video was shot for the European and Latin American countries, featuring Hilton's lover from the beach as her photographer at a photoshoot. In this version, scenes from the beach are still present, but exist as Hilton's fantasies during the photoshoot. At the end of the video, she wins the affection of her photographer, but ends up just taking his keys and stealing his car. The second version premiered on Z100's website on July 5, 2006.
Legal controversy
In June 2007, the copyright holders of the 1970 song "Kingston Town", Sparta Florida Music Group, started legal action against Hilton and Warner Chappell Music for plagiarism due to alleged similarities between "Stars Are Blind" and "Kingston Town". The two songs use the same chord progression in the verses. It has wrongly been ascribed that UB40 was the suing party, but that has been denied by the band themselves on their website. As of 2009, the suit appears to have been settled out of court.
Covers and alternative versions
Upon its original release, several remix compilations were released. Among these included a Tracy Does Paris Remix and a collaboration with Wisin & Yandel. The song evidently reached the top of the Dance Club Songs chart due to its remixes being played in American nightclubs. Hilton's friend, German singer Kim Petras, performed a cover of the song and posted it online.
