You can’t imagine it, the singer says. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The record, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The first single, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while still secretly living with breast cancer. A month later she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and big frames. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the picture. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I basically roast the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was preparing for an performance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after 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 assured herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after years away and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. 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 viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but this time I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened recently and my right breast now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
She is no stranger to illness. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already making her debut starring in the London theater in the production (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has entered the female band the group while enrolled in the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
