You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. At that moment preparing for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The record, her latest release, was meant as an candid account, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, losing a baby, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time living with breast cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and oversized specs. Picture biker chic meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I basically roast the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was planning an performance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after eight years without an album and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “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 medical attire and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened four months ago and my affected breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is familiar with health problems. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s used to physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, acting as a reminder, or blow, to highlight not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career starring in the stage in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
