You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. At that moment readying for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was thriving, while at the same time coping with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is quick, bold and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I often tease the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was preparing for an slot at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but now I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy recently and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is no stranger to illness. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, acting as a reminder, or blow, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her childhood, already making her debut starring in the stage in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and teenage Jess has entered the female band the group while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
