You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Then in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The musician, birth name Jess Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an candid account, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, broken romances, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while dealing with the disease. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and large glasses. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance soon. “I love making people laugh. When performing I often tease the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is no stranger to illness. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to physical challenges. Frequently they align with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already starting her career starring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and young Jessica has entered the trio Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
