Storch is in a bit of a foul mood, upset that some of the superstars who are on his résumé are not in his future.
"I worked with Beyoncé on her last album," Storch says. "I wasn't invited to the new album. I only delivered three hit records last time. But a lot of artists figure they want to try something different. Whatever. There's certain artists who are loyal and certain ones don't really care and don't give you the opportunity to follow through with them again. I'm insulted by a lot of the artists I delivered hits to."
Like who?
"Like Christina Aguilera." Storch made seven songs for her most recent album, Stripped, two of them singles, and helped her sell 12 million records worldwide, but he's not working on her new album, Back to Basics. "I told [Christina's people] I needed a private plane to get out to L.A.," he says. "I had to bring equipment, clothes, my people. You want me to move my life from Miami to L.A. for six months, and you can't get me a plane to do it? She didn't go to bat for me. And I truly cared about her as a person and a friend and as an artist."
But the situation most upsetting to him now is the as-yet-unreleased album by his ex-girlfriend Paris Hilton. "She's cool," he says, "and she surprised me not as a singing talent, but she has a cool little timbre in her voice that's reminiscent to Blondie and Cyndi Lauper." He made nine songs for her album. (He says they made records but not movies.) "I put my heart and soul into that. I delivered incredible music. She's a wild girl, and within my music I think I captured the essence of what Paris really is in life." They cut sassy club pop such as Britney might make, records for the clubs that pivot not around Hilton's voice but around her cult status and sexual image.
But recently Hilton's label decided Storch's work was too racy for the audience it wanted to attack. For Hilton's first single the label chose "Stars Are Blind," a bouncy Euro-reggae song produced by Fernando Garibay, known for his work with Enrique Iglesias and Ashlee Simpson. Storch was not pleased. "They came to Scott Storch," he says, "and I gave 'em some hot shyt, and they smacked me in my face and disrespected me. The record label has destroyed the introduction stage of Paris' project. [The first single they chose] is a safe, contemporary pop record. My stuff is more daring, and I feel like it would've been something to open people's eyes." Now he's unsure if all nine of the songs he made will be on the album.
