You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. At that moment gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with the disease. Subsequently she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance next year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I frequently joke about the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was preparing for an slot at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after a long hiatus and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but this time I just strolled down with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my right breast now looks like a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
She is familiar with health problems. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has joined the female band the group 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 voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
