You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. There she was preparing for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The musician, real name Jess Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an candid account, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The lead track, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was thriving, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with ornate white designs, off-white boots and large glasses. Picture motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is quick, bold and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. On stage I basically roast the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was getting ready for an slot at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after eight years without an album and an extended break. And the doctor messaged 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 goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. 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 backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal a few months back and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is no stranger to illness. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her youth, already beginning featuring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
