You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The musician, birth name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an transparent story, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time dealing with breast cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and big frames. Imagine rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel 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 smiles. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I often tease the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking 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, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but this time I just marched with a medical attire and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “It’s terrible, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, acting as a reminder, or blow, to remind her not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already making her debut starring in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in 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 the year 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Oi, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
