You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. At that moment readying for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, real name J. Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (endometriosis, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while all the while coping with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and big frames. Picture motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance soon. “I love making people laugh. On stage I often tease the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
She was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after a long hiatus and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have shown aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but this time I just strolled down with a gown on and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened four months ago and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside career highs, acting as a reminder, or blow, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already making her debut featuring in the London theater in a musical (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and young Jessica has joined the girl group the group while studying at the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
