You can’t imagine it, the singer says. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Then in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every moment of pain she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, broken romances, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with the disease. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and big frames. Picture rocker vibe meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. She is sharp-witted, bold and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show soon. “I enjoy humor. On stage I basically roast the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was preparing for an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have shown malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but this time I just marched with a hospital gown and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is no stranger to illness. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s familiar with physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or shock, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her youth, already making her debut performing in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (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 tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
