You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. There she was readying for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was told she had breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jess Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last made an album (endometrial issues, losing a baby, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and she was talking to press about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with breast cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I like entertaining. On stage I often tease the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was preparing for an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer 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, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to physical challenges. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut starring in the London theater in the production (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
