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You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.

The artist, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while all the while coping with the disease. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She shoots me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.

We’re at a photo studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the film. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Jessie is quick, bold 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 enjoy humor. When performing I basically roast the fans.”

Personal Battles and News

Cornish was planning an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had many commitments.

“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she contacted me 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 fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but this time I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened a few months back and my right breast now looks like a odd shape.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”

Past Medical Issues

The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”

She recalls to her youth, already beginning featuring in the West End in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”

Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees