You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. At that moment preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an open book, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicide) with typical candour. The initial release, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly dealing with breast cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and large glasses. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut soon. “I like entertaining. When performing I often tease the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was planning an appearance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have shown malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but then I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my right breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut featuring in the London theater in the production (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the medical problem WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward six years, and teenage Jess 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 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 couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
