You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, real name J. Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, 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 existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with her cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Imagine biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is quick, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance soon. “I enjoy humor. When performing I frequently joke about the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was getting ready for an performance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have shown malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy recently and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut featuring in the West End in the production (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
