You can’t imagine it, the singer says. There she was preparing for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The first single, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was giving interviews 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 had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and large glasses. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the picture. “They used to call me that!” She beams. She is sharp-witted, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance soon. “I enjoy humor. On stage I frequently joke about the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was preparing for an performance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an test, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. 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 OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
She is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career starring in the London theater in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a year.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
