🔗 Share this article

You can’t imagine it, the singer says. At that moment readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The artist, real name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The record, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an open book, dealing with every moment of pain she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with the disease. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.

She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.

Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is sharp-witted, bold and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance soon. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

The artist was planning an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.

“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after years away and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have shown malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ My initial thought 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 walk you down. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my one side now looks like a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”

A History of Health Challenges

The singer is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”

She reminisces to her childhood, already making her debut starring in the London theater in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”

Hey, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees