You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. There she was readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was thriving, while at the same time dealing with her cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a studio in London. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and big frames. Think biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Cornish is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her standup debut next year. “I like entertaining. During performances I often tease the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was planning an appearance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis 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 contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful 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 viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but then I just marched with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now resembles a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career starring in the West End in the production (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has joined the female band Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
