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You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. At that moment readying for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Then in spring she was told she had breast cancer.

The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an transparent story, addressing every moment of pain she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, miscarriage, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while all the while living with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She gives me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.

We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and large glasses. Picture motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I like entertaining. During performances I basically roast the audience.”

Personal Battles and News

Cornish was planning an slot at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.

“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am

She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a hospital gown and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal a few months back and my one side now resembles a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”

The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she observes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”

Past Medical Issues

The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s used to physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”

She recalls to her childhood, already starting her career performing in the London theater in the production (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”

Hey, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees