You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The musician, real name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with typical candour. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time coping with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the picture. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her standup debut in the coming year. “I like entertaining. During performances I basically roast the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
She was planning an performance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but now I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut starring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen 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 brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
