You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. There she was readying for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, real name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while still secretly dealing with her cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Jessie is quick, bold and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut soon. “I like entertaining. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an scan, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but this time I just strolled down with a medical attire and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal a few months back and my one side now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career starring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and teenage Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
