You can’t imagine it, the singer says. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Then in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The musician, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was meant as an transparent story, addressing every moment of pain she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, losing a baby, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while dealing with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is quick, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was preparing for an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but this time I just strolled down with a medical attire and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal a few months back and my right breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Ironically 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 accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s familiar with physical challenges. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her youth, already beginning performing in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
