You can’t imagine it, the singer states. There she was preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, real name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time dealing with the disease. Subsequently she shared the news, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the film. “They used to call me that!” She beams. She is quick, bold and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her standup debut next year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I frequently joke about the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was planning an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had assured herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ 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 scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just strolled down with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
She is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside high points for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already beginning performing in the stage in the production (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has joined the trio Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
