You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. There she was gearing up for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The artist, birth name Jessica Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an open book, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time dealing with breast cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the film. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after years away and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have shown malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal recently and my right breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s used to medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
