You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. There she was readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every moment of pain she’d endured since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while all the while coping with the disease. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the picture. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Jessie is quick, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I frequently joke about the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
She was preparing for an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy recently and my affected breast now appears as a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is familiar with health problems. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the female band the group while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
