You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The record, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while still secretly coping with her cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and big frames. Picture motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Jessie is sharp-witted, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I often tease the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was planning an performance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but now I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but however Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal a few months back and my one side now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is no stranger to illness. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her youth, already beginning featuring in the West End in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Oi, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
