You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jess Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an transparent story, tackling every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The lead track, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. A month later she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Think biker chic 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. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. She is sharp-witted, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I often tease the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was preparing for an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They lead you. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but this time I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal four months ago and my one side now resembles a odd shape.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning starring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has become part of the female band the group while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
