You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. There she was preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The record, her latest release, was meant as an open book, addressing every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time coping with the disease. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and large glasses. Picture biker chic meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
She was planning an slot at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project 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, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but this time I just walked with a hospital gown and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened a few months back and my right breast now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia 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 fast-forwards six years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a year.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
