You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. There she was readying for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jess Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The record, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every moment of pain she’d endured since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with her usual frankness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. 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 all the while dealing with her cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is sharp-witted, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I frequently joke about the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient 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 she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They lead you. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but this time I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened recently and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Frequently they align with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with high points for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career performing in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and teenage Jess has entered the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
