You can’t imagine it, the singer states. At that moment readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, real name Jess Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an transparent story, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The first single, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then next release, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while all the while dealing with the disease. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. She is quick, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her standup debut next year. “I like entertaining. During performances I basically roast the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after eight years without an album and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy recently and my right breast now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is no stranger to illness. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and teenage Jess has joined the trio the group while attending the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Hey, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
