You can’t imagine it, the singer states. At that moment preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Then in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The musician, birth name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, broken romances, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time living with the disease. A month later she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and big frames. Think rocker vibe meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Cornish is quick, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was getting ready for an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the following my 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 persuaded herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she notes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is no stranger to illness. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to remind her not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career starring in the West End in the production (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
