You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. There she was readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, actual name J. Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while coping with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and oversized specs. Imagine biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Cornish is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was preparing for an slot at the awards show when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album 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, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought 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 hate being put under. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a medical attire and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her chest, she notes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
She is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the stage in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
