You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. There she was preparing for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The initial release, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while dealing with her cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I basically roast the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
She was planning an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought 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 found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened four months ago and my one side now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Frequently they align with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, 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 heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a year.”
Hey, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
