You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. At that moment preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The musician, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The album, her latest release, was meant as an transparent story, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while coping with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Think rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the picture. “They used to call me that!” She grins. She is sharp-witted, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was preparing for an appearance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after years away and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but this time I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened four months ago and my right breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already making her debut featuring in the London theater in a musical (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the medical problem WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band the group while attending the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a year.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
