You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The musician, real name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an open book, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicide) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time living with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, cream boots and large glasses. Imagine biker chic meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Cornish is sharp-witted, bold and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I basically roast the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an scan, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after years away and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my right breast now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
She is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut starring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has entered the trio Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
