You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. There she was readying for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was told she had breast cancer.
The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an transparent story, dealing with every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, miscarriage, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicide) with typical candour. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time living with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the film. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. She is sharp-witted, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show soon. “I love making people laugh. When performing I frequently joke about the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
She was getting ready for an slot at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had assured 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 releasing the album after eight years without an album and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you roll down in a bed, but now I just strolled down with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. 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 hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with health crises. They have often coincided with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her childhood, already making her debut starring in the West End in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the medical problem WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
