You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. There she was preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Then in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, tackling every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, losing a baby, broken romances, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time coping with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and large glasses. Imagine rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “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. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show soon. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was getting ready for an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a medical attire and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! 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 obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career starring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and young Jessica has joined the female band the group while enrolled in the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
