You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Then in spring she was told she had breast cancer.
The artist, actual name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with typical candour. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while living with the disease. Subsequently she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. She is quick, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I basically roast the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was planning an performance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after a long hiatus and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but this time I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but however Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my one side now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. 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 difficult experience. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. Frequently they align with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or blow, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her youth, already starting her career featuring in the West End in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward several years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group the group while enrolled in the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
