You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. At that moment preparing for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name J. Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The record, her latest release, was intended as an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d endured since she last made an album (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The initial release, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while living with her cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think biker chic meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. She is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her standup debut next year. “I like entertaining. On stage I basically roast the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was preparing for an appearance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after years away and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt 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 terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal a few months back and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s used to physical challenges. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to highlight not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning performing in the London theater in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and teenage Jess has joined the trio the group while studying at the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
