You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. At that moment readying for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The musician, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with her usual frankness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time dealing with breast cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is sharp-witted, bold and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I frequently joke about the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was planning an slot at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an scan, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have shown malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal a few months back and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already making her debut performing in the London theater in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
