You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. At that moment readying for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an candid account, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with typical candour. The first single, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then next release, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time dealing with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Cornish is quick, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I like entertaining. During performances I basically roast the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking 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, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but this time I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened recently and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or shock, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the stage in a musical (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 tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and teenage Jess has entered the female band the group while enrolled in the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Oi, I say, wait, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
