You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. There she was preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an transparent story, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last made an album (endometriosis, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while all the while living with breast cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, cream boots and large glasses. Imagine rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is quick, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I like entertaining. On stage I basically roast the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was planning an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was nothing. 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 four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have indicated malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but now I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, 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 attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Frequently they align with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to highlight not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her youth, already starting her career starring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the girl group the group while attending the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
