You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Then in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. 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 recorded music (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time coping with her cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the picture. “They used to call me that!” She beams. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was planning an slot at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on 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 this time I just strolled down with a gown on and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy recently and my right breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her chest, she remarks, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is familiar with health problems. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already beginning performing in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a year.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
