You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The record, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every moment of pain 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, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later second single, Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time dealing with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, off-white boots and large glasses. Imagine biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I often tease the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was getting ready for an slot at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after years away and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but this time I just marched with a medical attire and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened a few months back and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to medical emergencies. Frequently they align with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has often paired with moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already starting her career performing in the stage in a musical (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and teenage Jess has entered the trio the group while attending the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
