You can’t imagine it, the singer says. There she was preparing for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jess Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an transparent story, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later next release, Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time living with the disease. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and big frames. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like 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. Cornish is sharp-witted, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. On stage I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an scan, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but this time I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. They have often coincided with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning featuring in the stage in the production (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Hey, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
