You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (endometriosis, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then second single, Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time coping with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and big frames. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Cornish is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I basically roast the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after a long hiatus and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her chest, she notes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s experienced in health crises. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already making her debut featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
