You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. At that moment readying for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an transparent story, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicide) with characteristic openness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while at the same time dealing with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture biker chic meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the film. “They used to call me that!” She grins. She is quick, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but now I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal four months ago and my affected breast now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! 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.”
Past Medical Issues
She is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, acting as a reminder, or shock, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning starring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the girl group the group while enrolled in the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
