You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. There she was preparing for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The first single, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with breast cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and big frames. Picture biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I often tease the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was getting ready for an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my right breast now resembles a odd shape.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, 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 perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her childhood, already beginning performing in the London theater in the production (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
