You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. There she was readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Then in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly coping with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “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, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and oversized specs. Think biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her initial standup show soon. “I like entertaining. When performing I often tease the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was getting ready for an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy recently and my affected breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her youth, already making her debut performing in the stage in the production (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
