You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. There she was readying for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The musician, real name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an transparent story, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicide) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while living with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the picture. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her initial standup show soon. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. During crises you are wheeled, but this time I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her childhood, already beginning performing in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has entered the female band Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Wow, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
