You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time dealing with the disease. Subsequently she went public, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think biker chic meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, recalling the picture. “They used to call me that!” She grins. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was preparing for an slot at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ My initial 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 found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just strolled down with a hospital gown 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 op. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened four months ago and my one side now resembles a odd shape.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is familiar with health problems. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut performing in the stage in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
