You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, actual name Jess Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an open book, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly dealing with breast cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Imagine motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Jessie is fast-thinking, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I frequently joke about the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after years away and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet 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.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is no stranger to illness. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning starring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the trio the group while enrolled in the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
