You can’t imagine it, the singer says. There she was preparing for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an open book, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, losing a baby, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while all the while dealing with the disease. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show soon. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was planning an appearance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing 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 thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but then I just marched with a medical attire and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
She is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Frequently they align with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career starring in the West End in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group the group while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Oi, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
