You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The musician, birth name Jessica Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The album, 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 made an album (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while at the same time living with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and big frames. Picture biker chic meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is quick, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
She was preparing for an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an scan, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened four months ago and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already making her debut starring in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
