You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was meant as an open book, addressing every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicide) with typical candour. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then second single, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and large glasses. Picture biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is quick, bold and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was preparing for an performance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ 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 concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after years away and no new music. And she contacted me 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 good, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. 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 considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal recently and my one side now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. 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 experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or blow, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut featuring in the stage in the production (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and teenage Jess has entered the female band Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I just got my first record 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 lost my voice for a year.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
