You can’t imagine it, the singer states. There she was readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time living with her cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and large glasses. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Cornish is fast-thinking, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I basically roast the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was planning an appearance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after years away and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? 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, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but this time I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
She is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or blow, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career starring in the stage in the production (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has entered the female band the group while enrolled in the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
