You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. There she was preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name J. Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The record, her latest release, was meant as an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is quick, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was planning an appearance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an scan, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a medical attire and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! 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. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career performing in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio the group while enrolled in the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Hey, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
