You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. At that moment readying for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an open book, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later next release, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly coping with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Cornish is quick, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I basically roast the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was planning an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have shown aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a hospital gown and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s familiar with health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or blow, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? 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 takes me back to her youth, already making her debut performing in the stage in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and young Jessica has joined the girl group the group while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
