You can’t imagine it, the singer says. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an open book, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later next release, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while still secretly coping with the disease. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Picture biker chic meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the picture. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Jessie is quick, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance next year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I basically roast the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
She was planning an slot at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she tells 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, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but this time I just strolled down with a medical attire and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal four months ago and my affected breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is no stranger to illness. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, acting as a reminder, or blow, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has often paired with moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut performing in the stage in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
