You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. At that moment preparing for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with typical candour. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time dealing with the disease. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I basically roast the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was planning an performance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a medical attire and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but yet Luckily it was detected 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 follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s familiar with health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning performing in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
