You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The musician, real name Jess Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while all the while living with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We’re 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. Imagine rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the picture. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Jessie is quick, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I frequently joke about the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was preparing for an slot at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an scan, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after eight years without an album and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is familiar with health problems. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or blow, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her youth, already beginning starring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and teenage Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Hey, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
