You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. At that moment readying for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The musician, birth name Jessica Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was meant as an transparent story, dealing with every moment of pain she’d faced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then second single, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while dealing with her cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, off-white boots and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. During performances I often tease the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
She was getting ready for an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they said, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have shown aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my one side now looks like a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her youth, already making her debut starring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and teenage Jess has joined the trio the group while enrolled in the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
