You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. There she was gearing up for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The album, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the picture. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Cornish is sharp-witted, irreverent and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance soon. “I like entertaining. During performances I basically roast the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was planning an slot at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They lead you. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but this time I just strolled down with a gown on and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened a few months back and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her chest, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning performing in the West End in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the girl group the group while studying at the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Wow, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
