You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. There she was preparing for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Then in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name Jessica Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an transparent story, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly dealing with her cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is quick, bold 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 often tease the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was planning an appearance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just strolled down with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened four months ago and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, acting as a reminder, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career featuring in the West End in the production (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and teenage Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
