You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. At that moment gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Then in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, 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. The illness. Later second single, Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was talking to press about how she was thriving, while still secretly living with breast cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Jessie is quick, bold and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was planning an slot at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal recently and my affected breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
She is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s used to physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her youth, already beginning featuring in the West End in the production (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and teenage Jess has entered the trio the group while studying at the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, 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 larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Hey, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
