You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The artist, birth name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly coping with her cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Imagine rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “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. Jessie is sharp-witted, bold and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an performance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but this time 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, she adds, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery 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 accustomed to medical issues. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s used to physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, acting as a reminder, or blow, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already beginning performing in the London theater in a musical (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
