You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Then in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and big frames. Imagine biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the movie. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I love making people laugh. When performing I basically roast the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have shown malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but then I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her youth, already making her debut featuring 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 cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has entered the girl group Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
