You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. There she was preparing for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an open book, dealing with every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later second single, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was thriving, while at the same time dealing with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was planning an appearance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal four months ago and my affected breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her chest, she notes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her childhood, already beginning starring in the stage in the production (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and teenage Jess has entered the trio the group while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
