You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an transparent story, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then second single, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while all the while dealing with the disease. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and big frames. Think motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Jessie is quick, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after a long hiatus and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just walked with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal a few months back and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s familiar with health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her youth, already making her debut featuring in the stage in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the female band Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
