You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, 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 spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The first single, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while still secretly dealing with her cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and big frames. Imagine rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance next year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
She was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘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 serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ 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 viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Amusingly 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 no stranger to illness. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has often paired with high points for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her youth, already beginning performing in the stage in the production (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward several years, and teenage Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
