You can’t imagine it, the singer states. At that moment readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was told she had breast cancer.
The artist, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The record, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The initial release, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then next release, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly coping with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and large glasses. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is quick, bold and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut next year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was getting ready for an performance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have indicated malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. During crises you are wheeled, but this time I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “It’s terrible, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy recently and my right breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is no stranger to illness. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her youth, already beginning performing in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
