You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. There she was preparing for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was told she had breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, real name J. Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while still secretly dealing with breast cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, off-white boots and oversized specs. Think biker chic meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. She is quick, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I basically roast the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was getting ready for an performance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after years away and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have indicated malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal recently and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to remind her not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already starting her career performing in the West End in the production (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and teenage Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
