You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. At that moment preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The artist, actual name Jessica Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, broken romances, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while all the while coping with her cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and large glasses. Think rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Cornish is quick, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
She was planning an slot at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched 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 lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy recently and my one side now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is familiar with health problems. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already beginning featuring in the London theater in a musical (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and teenage Jess has joined the female band the group while enrolled in the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a year.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
