You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. There she was preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an transparent story, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, miscarriage, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while all the while coping with her cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and oversized specs. Think rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the movie. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was preparing for an performance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d contact 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 face illness when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after years away and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened four months ago and my right breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Frequently they align with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career performing in the London theater in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the female band Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
