You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. At that moment readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Then in spring she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The artist, birth name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was meant as an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then second single, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while still secretly dealing with breast cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I like entertaining. During performances I basically roast the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but this time I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal recently and my right breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the London theater in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the female band the group while studying at the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
