You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. At that moment preparing for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, actual name Jessica Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an transparent story, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicide) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly coping with her cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and big frames. Think motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She beams. She is quick, bold and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was preparing for an performance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had assured 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 releasing the album after a long hiatus and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal a few months back and my one side now resembles a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning performing in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the medical problem WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and young Jessica has joined the female band the group while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
