Access Atlanta > American Idol Buzz > Archives > 2007 > February > 02 > Entry
2/2: Lunch (kinda) with Paris
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’m sitting here in Noodle in Midtown where I had just met former Fayetteville resident Paris Bennett and her publicist for what I thought would be lunch. But apparently, Paris and a friend of hers had breakfast at IHOP not too long before the meeting so she sat, I ate.
Paris was in town doing promotions for her upcoming CD. She wore a black Bebe leather jacket with fur fringes, big white-framed sunglasses possibly stolen from one of the Olsen twins and a trendy Ed Hardy cap. (Yes, she wore sunglasses indoors so I couldn’t see her eyes.) She was polite but a bit world weary for an 18 year old. She came off as someone who has done 10,000 interviews and was going through the motions. I suspect she was just bone tired from all the traveling, promotion and work the past few months. But she denied fatigue. “I don’t get burned out,” she said flatly. “I’m always ready to go to the next place.”
Here’s a sampling of her curt, bland answers to my queries:
I asked her about the Christmas cruise she did for Disney and she “It was just a cruise,” she said. “Went to Disney’s private island. St. Lucia. St. Thomas. Sang Christmas Eve.”
How about the Paula Abdul tribute she sang at in Las Vegas? Any favorites songs? “No. I just sang the medley.”
She had time to meet Prince at the “Idol” finale. What was that like? “We had a personal talk,” she said, declining to say what she actually said to him.
She’s off to Fashion Week in New York. What are her favorite fashions? “Gwen Stefani’s L.A.M.B.. Baby Phat. I wouldn’t mind endorsing Heatherette.” Why? “It’s jazzy. I wore it on my video.”
How did you like Kat’s new CD? “I like her CD,” she said. Anything more specific about her or any other “Idol” CD? “They’re family. I’m appreciative of what they all do.” In other words, she won’t dare badmouth any brethren’s music, which is smart, at least not to me.
She decided to pick her uncle’s independent record label instead of big labels such as J Records or Sony because she felt she could be more like herself and have more control over her music. And she feels with her particular record promoter, she’s not handicapped getting R&B and top 40 radio airplay for her new single “Ordinary Love.” We’ll see.
While most of the conversation was that dull, she did convey a couple of interesting tidbits:
She’s part of an Apple test team and will be getting an iPhone in a couple of weeks in beta form before most everybody else.
She’s customizing a monster truck in pink and black in Minneapolis and has started her own company, Paris Bennett Inc., for possible future merchandising and business opportunities. She’s already thinking real estate and investments of that ilk. “By the time I’m 21, I hope to be a millionaire,” she said.
She recently bought new dog, a teacup yorkie she named Prince.
And her new CD (out in late March or so) will be eclectic, mixing pop, R&B, jazz, hip hop, et.al. She says that’s who she is, a mix. Her interest in college has waned now compared to when I interviewed her a few months back now that she’s immersed in entertainment.
She has no real home yet though it appears her mom’s place in Minneapolis is her de facto home base right now, more so than Fayetteville, where her grandma singer Ann Nesby lives. She still hopes to live in the South, though Atlanta isn’t her only option. She’s thinking Florida, New Orleans or Texas, too.
And she has one famous person she’d like to meet who she hasn’t yet: Gladys Knight. Her grandma knows Gladys but “I’d like to meet her on my own.”
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