You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. There she was gearing up for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, 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 cancer in her breast.
The artist, birth name Jess Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was thriving, while all the while living with breast cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and oversized specs. Imagine biker chic meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the picture. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is quick, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was preparing for an slot at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have shown malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is familiar with health problems. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her youth, already beginning performing in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of 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 about to put out music in 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
