You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The artist, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly coping with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Cornish is fast-thinking, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I frequently joke about the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
She was preparing for an appearance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. During crises you go on a gurney, but then I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal recently and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she observes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is no stranger to illness. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. Many times they occur alongside career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has often paired with high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the stage in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward six years, and young Jessica has joined the female band the group while attending the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
