You can’t imagine it, the singer says. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The artist, birth name Jess Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The record, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an open book, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time living with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. She is quick, irreverent and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I like entertaining. During performances I frequently joke about the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
She was planning an slot at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a hospital gown and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened recently and my one side now resembles a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to remind her not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with achievements for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her youth, already making her debut featuring in the West End in the production (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the medical problem WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the trio the group while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut 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, wait, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
