You can’t imagine it, the singer says. At that moment readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The musician, birth name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an transparent story, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then next release, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly living with breast cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Imagine biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Cornish is quick, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they said, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician 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 tells it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after years away and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have indicated malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but now I just marched with a medical attire and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy recently and my one side now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she notes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Amusingly 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
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s used to medical emergencies. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or shock, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, 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 starting her career performing in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has entered the girl group the group while studying at the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Oi, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
