You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. At that moment preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time living with the disease. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the picture. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Jessie is quick, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her standup debut soon. “I like entertaining. When performing I often tease the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was preparing for an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after years away and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you roll down in a bed, but now I just marched with a medical attire and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut starring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has entered the trio Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
