You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. At that moment readying for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The artist, birth name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was thriving, while still secretly dealing with the disease. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I basically roast the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was planning an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but this time I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal four months ago and my one side now resembles a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
She is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, acting as a reminder, or blow, to highlight not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already beginning starring in the London theater in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio the group while enrolled in the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
