You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an transparent story, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The initial release, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was thriving, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Think motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I frequently joke about the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but this time I just walked with a gown on and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with health crises. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has often paired with achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already making her debut starring in the West End in the production (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and young Jessica has become part of the female band Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
