You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. At that moment gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name J. Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an transparent story, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while all the while coping with her cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Cornish is sharp-witted, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I basically roast the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was planning an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
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. They walk you down. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with high points for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her youth, already beginning performing in the West End in the production (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
