You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. There she was readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, real name Jessica Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then next release, Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time coping with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Jessie is quick, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was getting ready for an performance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ 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 day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after eight years without an album and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but this time I just walked with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal four months ago and my one side now looks like a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
She is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her youth, already beginning starring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has become part of the female band Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
