You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. There she was readying for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, actual name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly coping with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and big frames. Picture rocker vibe meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. She is quick, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I basically roast the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was preparing for an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. 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 viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but this time I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened a few months back and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, why make it worse, 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.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is no stranger to illness. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her youth, already making her debut featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I secured a 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 voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
