You can’t imagine it, the singer states. There she was gearing up for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The album, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then next release, Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Cornish is sharp-witted, bold and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I frequently joke about the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
She is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or shock, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the West End in the production (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
