You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. There she was readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The artist, birth name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time coping with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and large glasses. Think rocker vibe meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was planning an slot at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. 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 viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but then I just marched with a medical attire and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but however Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal four months ago and my affected breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Frequently they align with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career performing in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
