You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, actual name J. Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time coping with breast cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Think biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, bold and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was planning an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt 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 frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. During crises you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal a few months back and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career starring in the stage in the production (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and teenage Jess has entered the trio the group while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a year.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
