You can’t imagine it, the singer says. At that moment readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The artist, real name J. Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The record, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last made an album (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, broken romances, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time coping with her cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and large glasses. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the picture. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was preparing for an appearance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘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 Cornish had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have shown aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Frequently they align with career highs, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with high points for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and young Jessica has become part of the female band Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Hey, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
