You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. At that moment readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The record, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an transparent story, dealing with every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicide) 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, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time dealing with breast cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and large glasses. Imagine rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is quick, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her standup debut next year. “I like entertaining. During performances I basically roast the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was preparing for an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an test, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after a long hiatus and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have shown aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her youth, already making her debut starring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and teenage Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
