You can’t imagine it, the singer states. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was told she had breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, actual name J. Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an candid account, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then second single, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while all the while living with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and large glasses. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Cornish is quick, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was planning an appearance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy recently and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is familiar with health problems. She feels her perspective on the cancer 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 shock, to highlight not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her childhood, already making her debut featuring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and teenage Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
