You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. There she was preparing for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name Jessica Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an transparent story, tackling every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while all the while coping with her cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and large glasses. Imagine rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, bold and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an test, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but then I just strolled down with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her chest, she notes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s used to physical challenges. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with achievements for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut featuring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the female band Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a year.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
