You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. At that moment preparing for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The musician, birth name J. Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later next release, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time coping with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and large glasses. Picture motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show next year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was preparing for an appearance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had assured herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have indicated malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ 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 hate being put under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a gown on and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal recently and my right breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, why make it worse, 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 perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
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 professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her youth, already beginning performing in the stage in the production (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the female band Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
