You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. At that moment readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, real name J. Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last made an album (endometriosis, losing a baby, broken romances, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while at the same time dealing with her cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” look. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, off-white boots and large glasses. Imagine biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is sharp-witted, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I basically roast the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
She was preparing for an performance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an test, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free 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 fine, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened four months ago and my one side now resembles a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
She is no stranger to illness. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her youth, already starting her career starring in the stage in the production (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and teenage Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
