You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. At that moment preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an transparent story, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was thriving, while all the while dealing with her cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is sharp-witted, bold and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious 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 inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. During crises you roll down in a bed, but this time I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. 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 one side now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s used to medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
