‘It has taught me to embrace life more’: Jessica Cornish on cancer, comebacks and conquering the Chinese market

You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The artist, birth name Jess Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The LP, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The initial release, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with her cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she had a mastectomy.

She gives me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.

We’re at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Think rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is sharp-witted, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the crowd.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

She was planning an slot at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers 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 weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.

“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after a long hiatus and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but this time I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”

The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”

A History of Health Challenges

She is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”

She recalls to her childhood, already beginning featuring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (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 fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a year.”

Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees