You can’t imagine it, the singer states. There she was gearing up for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The musician, real name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an transparent story, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later next release, the upbeat 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 still secretly dealing with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is quick, bold and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I basically roast the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
She was planning an slot at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense 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 physician told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after eight years without an album and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened a few months back and my one side now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning starring in the stage in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
