You can’t imagine it, the singer says. At that moment readying for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, actual name J. Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was meant as an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while coping with the disease. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and large glasses. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was preparing for an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but now I just walked with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal a few months back and my right breast now appears as a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already making her debut starring in the stage in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and teenage Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees