You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. There she was 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 facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Then in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was intended as an open book, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, broken romances, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while all the while coping with breast cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and big frames. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, bold and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. On stage I basically roast the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
She was getting ready for an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a hospital gown and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with achievements for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her childhood, already starting her career performing in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition 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 jumps ahead six years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
