You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Then in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while all the while dealing with her cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is sharp-witted, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I like entertaining. During performances I often tease the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was preparing for an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “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 considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. During crises you are wheeled, but this time I just strolled down with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my one side now appears as a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
She is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or blow, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside high points for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut featuring in the West End in the production (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and teenage Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
