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It took 27 drafts and coaching from “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig to perfect former Vice President Kamala Harris’ National Democratic Convention speech, Harris revealed in her book “107 Days.”
Harris’ book has pulled back the curtain on her short-lived presidential campaign, unveiling the celebrity cast of characters who boosted her campaign in public and behind the scenes.
“At 5:29 p.m., staff alerted me that the British singer-songwriter Charli XCX had posted: Kamala is brat. Brat was the title of her latest album and identified me with her brand: edgy, imperfect, confident, embracing. From then on, our rebranded Kamala HQ social media site was awash in her signature color, lime green, and posts supporting us used that color,” Harris wrote in her book, detailing the night former President Joe Biden suspended his reelection campaign.
As well as Charli XCX’s signature chartreuse filling Harris’ timeline, her presidential campaign quickly gained traction online as videos of Harris set to songs like Chappell Roan’s “Femininomenon” circulated on TikTok. But social media wasn’t the only medium Harris was honing in on, revealing in her new book that an Oscar-nominated director coached her through DNC speech prep.
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“I did twenty-seven drafts of my convention speech. I knew what was riding on it,” Harris said in her book.
Harris admitted that Gerwig, the “Little Women” and “Barbie” director, helped her rehearse. “When you speak about your family, see their faces,” Harris recalled that Gerwig had advised.
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The former vice president also admitted to working with a professional voice coach.
“She was very serious about her job, but she wanted me to stand there and emit animal noises,” Harris said, explaining that she enlisted her team to join her in making “weird hums, grunts, and trills” to prepare for the DNC speech.
In the book, Harris said delegates at the convention wore T-shirts paying homage to her career or dissing President Donald Trump, and she said merchandise referencing Charli XCX’s “Kamala is brat” message was everywhere.
Weeks later with just a few days until Election Day, when Harris appeared on a podcast episode of “The Checkup with Doctor Mike,” Harris lamented that she was “ambushed by an unscheduled in-depth interview, with no notice, at the end of a nineteen-hour day.”
Harris said her team “knew I insisted on being well prepped, to inquire into the style of the show, the nature of the interviews the host did, the areas of likely questioning.” She said her team failed to give her a “briefing sheet so I could knock it out of the park.”
“What the f— was that?” the Democratic nominee said she asked her staff after the interview, while Grammy-winning artist Cardi B was delivering an introductory speech for Harris at a rally in Wisconsin.
During Harris’ first rally in Atlanta after Biden dropped out of the race, she said Megan The Stallion was selected as the opener and Quavo as the introductory speaker as a way to “liven up” her solo campaign, “broaden the cultural appeal, and bring more creativity and fun.”
“There was a question about whether I should have any celebrities at my rallies,” Harris recalled in the book. “Did it seem too California, too Hollywood?”
Harris recognized Taylor Swift’s “thoughtful endorsement” on Instagram the night of her debate against Trump, when the “Eras Tour” star called herself a “Childless Cat Lady” in a nod to comments by Vice President JD Vance.
Throughout Harris’ 107-day campaign, she was endorsed by countless celebrities, many who campaigned for her against Trump, including Beyoncé, Oprah Winfrey, Eminem, Bruce Springsteen, Lizzo, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Roberts, Stephen Curry and Billie Eilish, to name a few.
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