You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. There she was gearing up for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The musician, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The record, her latest release, was intended as an open book, dealing with every moment of pain she’d faced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The first single, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later second single, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with the disease. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Think motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I frequently joke about the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was preparing for an slot at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after a long hiatus and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have shown malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. 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 found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a medical attire and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now resembles a odd shape.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is no stranger to illness. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career starring in the West End in the production (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 rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
