You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. There she was readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Then in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, real name Jess Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, broken romances, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The first single, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the picture. “They used to call me that!” She grins. She is quick, bold and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. On stage I basically roast the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was preparing for an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after a long hiatus 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 believing it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ My initial 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 lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened four months ago and my right breast now looks like a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already beginning starring in the London theater in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group the group while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
