You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. At that moment readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The artist, birth name Jess Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The record, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an transparent story, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then next release, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while dealing with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was preparing for an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; 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 get up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was 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 persuaded herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have indicated malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on 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. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just walked with a hospital gown and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal a few months back and my right breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward six years, and teenage Jess has joined the female band the group while attending the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
