You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. At that moment readying for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometriosis, losing a baby, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then second single, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while still secretly coping with the disease. A month later she went public, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the picture. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Cornish is sharp-witted, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was preparing for an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish 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.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal a few months back and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is no stranger to illness. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s used to physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career performing in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue WPW, 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 skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has entered the female band the group while studying at the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
