You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. There she was readying for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The record, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an open book, tackling every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while still secretly living with breast cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, cream boots and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I basically roast the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a medical attire and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “It’s terrible, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened a few months back and my right breast now resembles a odd shape.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already making her debut starring in the stage in the production (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and teenage Jess has joined the trio the group while attending the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
