You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. At that moment readying for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The record, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, miscarriage, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time dealing with the disease. Subsequently she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We meet at a studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was planning an performance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after eight years without an album and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They lead you. During crises you roll down in a bed, but this time I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s familiar with health crises. They have often coincided with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or blow, to highlight not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career starring in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the girl group the group while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
