You can’t imagine it, the singer says. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an candid account, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time dealing with breast cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, cream boots and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is sharp-witted, unfiltered 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 love making people laugh. On stage I often tease the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after years away and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. 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 considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal four months ago and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already making her debut starring in the West End in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio the group while enrolled in the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
