You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. There she was preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an transparent story, addressing every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and she was talking to press about how she was thriving, while still secretly dealing with breast cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘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 studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, bold and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I often tease the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was preparing for an slot at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just marched with a medical attire and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my one side now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is familiar with health problems. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with high points for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already making her debut featuring in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
