You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. There she was readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an candid account, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while living with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and large glasses. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her initial standup show in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
She was planning an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after years away and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have shown malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal recently and my affected breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is no stranger to illness. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning featuring in the London theater in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has joined the female band Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
