You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. There she was gearing up for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, real name J. Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d endured since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while all the while dealing with her cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, off-white boots and large glasses. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. She is quick, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. On stage I basically roast the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was preparing for an performance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after eight years without an album and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have indicated malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. 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 considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened recently and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or blow, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her youth, already making her debut featuring in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem WPW, 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 fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
