You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. At that moment gearing up 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, riding high. Then in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time coping with breast cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and large glasses. Picture biker chic meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, bold and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I like entertaining. On stage I often tease the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was planning an performance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but this time I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but however Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy recently and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, acting as a reminder, or blow, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the West End in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band the group while studying at the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”
Oi, I say, wait, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
