You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The musician, actual name Jessica Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an open book, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time coping with her cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and oversized specs. Think rocker vibe meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. She is quick, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show soon. “I like entertaining. During performances I frequently joke about the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was planning an performance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, 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 pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. During crises you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a medical attire and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning performing in the London theater in a musical (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a year.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
