You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with her usual frankness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while all the while coping with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and large glasses. Imagine biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Jessie is quick, bold and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I basically roast the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after years away and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my right breast now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, 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. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the West End in a musical (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and teenage Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
