You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The musician, birth name Jess Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an open book, tackling every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last made an album (endometrial issues, losing a baby, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while all the while dealing with her cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance next year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after eight years without an album and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a medical attire and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened a few months back and my one side now resembles a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her youth, already starting her career performing in the West End in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
