You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an open book, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while still secretly dealing with the disease. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and oversized specs. Imagine biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. She is quick, bold and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I often tease the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
She was planning an appearance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have come back as high-grade cancer 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.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she observes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career starring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine). 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 palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a year.”
Oi, I say, wait, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
