You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The record, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicide) with her usual frankness. The first single, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while still secretly coping with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. She is quick, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was planning an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after years away and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but now I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal recently and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, acting as a reminder, or shock, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the stage in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has entered the girl group the group while attending the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
