You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. There she was preparing for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while still secretly coping with her cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. She is sharp-witted, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I often tease the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
She was getting ready for an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have indicated malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but this time I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her childhood, already beginning featuring in the stage in the production (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and teenage Jess has entered the female band the group while attending the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
