You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. At that moment gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an transparent story, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while still secretly living with her cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was planning an slot at the awards show when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but this time I just marched with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my right breast now looks like a odd shape.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “different sizes. 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 rough time. So rude! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, 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 believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, acting as a reminder, or blow, to highlight not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already beginning performing in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
