You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. At that moment gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The artist, birth name Jessica Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, addressing every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, losing a baby, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while living with the disease. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Imagine rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Jessie is quick, bold and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I often tease the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was preparing for an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but this time I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my right breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
She is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the London theater in the production (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
