You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. At that moment preparing for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was meant as an candid account, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with her usual frankness. The initial release, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while at the same time dealing with her cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I basically roast the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was preparing for 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 appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but this time I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her chest, she remarks, are now “uneven. 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 rough time. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already making her debut featuring in the West End in the production (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
