You can’t imagine it, the singer states. At that moment readying for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The musician, birth name J. Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was meant as an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while living with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and large glasses. Imagine rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show soon. “I like entertaining. When performing I often tease the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an slot at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after eight years without an album and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but now I just walked with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
She is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s familiar with health crises. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to remind her not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut performing in the West End 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 irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
