You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, actual name J. Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The record, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while all the while dealing with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her standup debut in the coming year. “I like entertaining. During performances I often tease the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was preparing for an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after years away and an extended break. 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 jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you roll down in a bed, but this time I just strolled down with a medical attire and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal recently and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she notes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the West End in the production (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Oi, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
