You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. There she was readying 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 diagnosed with breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last made an album (endometrial issues, losing a baby, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly coping with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is quick, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut next year. “I like entertaining. On stage I often tease the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was preparing for an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune 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 contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have shown malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but this time I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened four months ago and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. 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. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her childhood, already making her debut starring in the West End in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “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 car crash and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Oi, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
