You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. At that moment readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an candid account, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The initial release, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with her cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with ornate white designs, off-white boots and oversized specs. Imagine biker chic meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. She is sharp-witted, bold and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her initial standup show in the coming year. “I like entertaining. During performances I frequently joke about the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was planning an slot at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then she 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.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They walk you down. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy recently and my one side now looks like a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I thought, no need to bully me, 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 flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career starring in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and young Jessica has become part of the female band the group while attending the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
