You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Then in spring she was told she had breast cancer.
The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The record, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and large glasses. Picture rocker vibe meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Cornish is sharp-witted, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her standup debut in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was getting ready for an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ 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 suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had assured herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ 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 continues, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just walked with a gown on and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal recently and my right breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is familiar with health problems. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her youth, already starting her career performing in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and young Jessica has joined the female band Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
