You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. At that moment readying for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, actual name J. Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly dealing with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems 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 smiles. Jessie is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. On stage I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an slot at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away 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 thought, ‘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 goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but this time I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened recently and my right breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already beginning performing in the London theater in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
