You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. There she was preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The musician, real name Jess Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The album, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an open book, addressing every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time living with her cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the film. “They used to call me that!” She grins. She is quick, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I frequently joke about the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was preparing for an slot at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They lead you. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my one side now looks like a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s familiar with physical challenges. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her youth, already making her debut featuring in the West End in the production (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has joined the trio Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
