You can’t imagine it, the singer says. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an transparent story, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last made an album (endometriosis, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicide) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while coping with the disease. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. She is quick, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I often tease the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have indicated malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but this time I just walked with a gown on and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened recently and my one side now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is no stranger to illness. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her childhood, already making her debut starring in the London theater in a musical (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the female band Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, wait, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
