You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The musician, real name J. Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time coping with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and large glasses. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the film. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Jessie is sharp-witted, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I basically roast the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the post-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 she had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘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 says, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but this time I just walked with a hospital gown and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is familiar with health problems. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s used to physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already beginning starring in the stage in the production (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and teenage Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
