You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. At that moment preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is quick, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I frequently joke about the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was planning an slot at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after years away and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great 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 found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my right breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has often paired with high points for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut featuring in the West End in the production (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
