You can’t imagine it, the singer states. At that moment gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was launched 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 the artist was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while coping with breast cancer. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and large glasses. Picture motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I basically roast the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was getting ready for an performance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had assured herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after years away and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but now I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, acting as a reminder, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her youth, already starting her career featuring in the stage in the production (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and teenage Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
