You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. There she was readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, birth name Jess Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an candid account, tackling every moment of pain she’d endured since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while all the while coping with her cancer. Subsequently 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 No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and large glasses. Picture motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I like entertaining. During performances I basically roast the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was preparing for an performance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after eight years without an album and no new music. 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 believing it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened four months ago and my one side now resembles a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
She is no stranger to illness. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Frequently they align with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning starring in the West End in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and teenage Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
