You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. At that moment readying for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The musician, real name Jessica Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an open book, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, losing a baby, broken romances, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with breast cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and large glasses. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the film. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Cornish is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I often tease the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was getting ready for an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after years away and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but then I just marched with a gown on and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my one side now appears as a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Amusingly 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.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her youth, already beginning featuring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
