You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. At that moment preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, real name Jessica Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an transparent story, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicide) with typical candour. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time dealing with breast cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Cornish is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show next year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I basically roast the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was preparing for an slot at the awards show when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after years away and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but this time I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy recently and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already making her debut performing in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward several years, and teenage Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
