You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. There she was gearing up for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Then in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, real name J. Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly coping with the disease. Subsequently she shared the news, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Think biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I basically roast the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was planning an slot at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ The first thing I 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 considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but then I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my right breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
She is familiar with health problems. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s familiar with physical challenges. They have often coincided with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her youth, already beginning featuring in the London theater in the production (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the female band Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
