You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. There she was readying for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was told she had breast cancer.
The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was meant as an transparent story, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then second single, Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while still secretly dealing with the disease. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and large glasses. Think rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the picture. “They used to call me that!” She beams. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance next year. “I like entertaining. On stage I often tease the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an performance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have indicated malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a year.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
