You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. At that moment readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The album, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then next release, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was thriving, while at the same time dealing with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Think rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. On stage I often tease the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was getting ready for an slot at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an scan, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after a long hiatus and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. During crises you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “It’s terrible, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy recently and my right breast now appears as a odd shape.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her chest, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut starring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and young Jessica has entered the trio the group while attending the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a year.”
Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
