You can’t imagine it, the singer says. There she was preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, real name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while still secretly living with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Imagine biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. She is quick, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance next year. “I like entertaining. During performances I frequently joke about the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened four months ago and my one side now appears as a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! 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. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ 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 youth, already starting her career starring in the West End in the production (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the girl group the group while enrolled in the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
