You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. There she was preparing for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicide) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time coping with her cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was preparing for an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have shown 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 have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They lead you. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but this time I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my right breast now appears as a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
She is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. They have often coincided with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her youth, already beginning starring in the West End in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has entered the girl group the group while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
