You can’t imagine it, the singer states. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, real name J. Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The album, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an open book, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with her usual frankness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while all the while coping with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, bold and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I like entertaining. On stage I basically roast the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after years away and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have shown aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “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 medical attire and my bum hanging 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 you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy recently and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her youth, already making her debut performing in the stage in the production (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has joined the girl group the group while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Oi, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
