You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. There she was readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jessica Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an candid account, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and big frames. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. She is quick, bold and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I frequently joke about the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was planning an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have shown aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “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 strolled down with a hospital gown and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is familiar with health problems. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already making her debut performing in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and teenage Jess has entered the female band Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
