You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. There she was preparing for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then next release, Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly coping with breast cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the film. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was preparing for an performance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after years away and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have shown malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ The first thing I 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 lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but however Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal a few months back and my right breast now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
She is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s familiar with health crises. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her youth, already starting her career featuring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Hey, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
