You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. At that moment readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was told she had breast cancer.
The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while still secretly dealing with breast cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the picture. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Cornish is sharp-witted, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I like entertaining. During performances I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
She was planning an performance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following 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 the singer had convinced herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after eight years without an album and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just marched with a medical attire and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” 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 recently and my affected breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is familiar with health problems. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ 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 youth, already beginning starring in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
