IT'S AN ACT

``Some people only see me on The Simple Life where I'm playing this character who is vapid and not smart and talks in a baby voice. I think people assume that's how I really am. But that's just a character I'm playing and it's just for fun. Even on the record, I talk about boys fighting over me and all that. It's very tongue-in-cheek. I love to play with image. But I also took this record very seriously.''

Paris says she already had a deal with Warner Bros. Records before Storch joined the project.

``I was at Mansion in Miami and we were just hanging out and someone was like, `Scott Storch wants to meet you.' He came over and we hung out and went to the studio that night and he played me some beats and I was so excited. I had been in the clubs going, `Who produced this, and who produced that?' And every song that I liked was Scott Storch.''

Paris says she immediately moved to Miami for two months, working nightly with Storch at the storied Hit Factory studio in North Miami.

``There was a really great vibe there. Nelly Furtado and Timbaland were working next door so we would see them all the time and listen to their music. Or they would come and listen to mine. We'd be there till 5 in the morning. Once I'm in the studio, I just forget about everything else. I don't even bring my BlackBerry in.''

THE SOBE LIFE

Home is Los Angeles, but Paris has been a South Beach fixture for several years, sometimes clubbing for the simple fun of it, sometimes collecting hefty appearance fees. What people might not guess is that she's less about the nightlife and more about unplugged fun in the sun, she says.

``I'm staying at Scott's house and it's like a resort. There's a huge yacht outside and we go Jet Skiing. I love the ocean. I actually love the day life here much more than the nightlife.''

Not that she has anything against the nightlife.

``In New York and L.A., people just sit there and stare at each other. Nobody dances. But here everybody has fun. I was just at Pearl and we had so much fun.''

Paris figures she'll start spending even more time here now that her little sister Nicky is opening a boutique hotel on Ocean Drive called Nicky O.

``Have you seen the space? She really has great taste. I'm so excited,'' Paris says.

You tell her you've just hung out with Nicky and you want to know if it's true that they've never had any rivalry between them.

``We're really different but we're really close. But my two brothers are exact opposites of each other, too. The older one is more shy and the younger one is more like me. I mean, maybe Nicky and I fought about clothes or something when we were little kids. But we're adults now and we're best friends.''

In fact, Paris is sort of bummed because she planned to stay in Miami to attend a party launching Nicky's hotel venture, but instead she has to hop a jet to do a spot on some TV show promoting her new CD.

``I'm leaving tonight. I have to do Good Day L.A. or Good Day New York. Or maybe it's Good Morning New York. Whatever Matt Lauer is on,'' she says and laughs.

Perhaps she means it. Or perhaps she's just slipped back into her Simple Life persona.

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