Songfacts®:

• "I'm Free" is Paris Hilton's reworking of "Free," a house music classic from 1997 by the Baltimore-bred singer Ultra Naté. The verse lyrics in the two songs are different, but the choruses are similar. Hilton's song goes:
  
  I'm free
  To do what I wanna do
  It's my life
  I'll do what I wanna do
  
  Ultra Naté's song goes:
  
  'Cause you're free
  To do what you want to do
  You've got to live your life
  Do what you want to do
  
  Hilton held true to the song's meaning, which is about breaking free from emotional barriers, finding your true self, and expressing it without guilt.
• Hilton released a statement explaining that "Free" by Ultra Naté is a very meaningful song to her, saying it "represents the journey of healing and finding your voice. It's been an anthem of hope and a guiding light."
  
  She first heard it at a New York City dance club in the late '90s after she was released from the Provo Canyon School, which Hilton called "the worst experience of my entire life." Hilton says she was sent to the school against her will and endured abuse during her 11-month stay there. Speaking with ABC News in 2023, she said, "I can't believe that place is even still open and that they're operating. Throwing us against walls, strangling, hitting... Late at night they would take certain girls into a room and do cervical exams with male and female staff."
  
  Hilton says she developed a "trauma response" in the form of her public persona. She describes the experience as so traumatizing that she "pretended everything was okay, trying to block out the painful memories" after leaving the school.
• Hilton is joined on the song by the Japanese-British singer Rina Sawayama, who released her debut album, Sawayama, in 2020. You can catch her in the 2023 movie John Wick: Chapter 4 as Akira. Hilton praised her "mesmerizing vocals and lyrics on the song."
• "I'm Free" was the first single from Hilton's second album, Infinite Icon, released 18 years after her 2006 debut, Paris. Hilton was still starring in the reality show The Simple Life when she issued the Paris album. She was quite the heel, derided for being condescending and entitled (she's an heir to the Hilton Hotels empire), but her foray into singing went surprisingly well. Her debut single, "Stars Are Blind," charted around the world and didn't receive the mockery many of her other ventures did.
• Hilton debuted the song on June 7, 2023 at her very first concert, which took place at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles.
• The music video was directed by Matthew Siskin, whose other work includes "Twinkle Twinkle" by Margo Price and "Pure Comedy" by Father John Misty. Rina Sawayama isn't in the video, but we get plenty of Paris in various fashion-forward outfits.