You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. At that moment readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The musician, real name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an transparent story, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The initial release, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then next release, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while living with breast cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and big frames. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I basically roast the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was planning an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened recently and my one side now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already beginning starring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and teenage Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
