You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The artist, birth name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was meant as an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time dealing with her cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Imagine biker chic meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the film. “They used to call me that!” She grins. She is quick, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance soon. “I like entertaining. On stage I often tease the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was preparing for an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after years away and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have indicated malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just marched with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened recently and my one side now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her youth, already making her debut performing in the stage in a musical (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
