You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. There she was gearing up 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 dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” look. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Jessie is fast-thinking, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show next year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I basically roast the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was planning an slot at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after a long hiatus and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a gown on and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy recently and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is no stranger to illness. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s experienced in health crises. Many times they occur alongside career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career starring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has entered the trio Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
