You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. There she was readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, 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 spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while dealing with the disease. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and big frames. Think biker chic meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the picture. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Cornish is quick, bold and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I often tease the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have shown malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but this time I just strolled down with a gown on and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her attitude toward illness 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 highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has often paired with achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her youth, already starting her career starring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio the group while enrolled in the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
