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You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. There she was readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.

The artist, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The record, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while living with the disease. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.

We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show soon. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the fans.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

She was preparing for an appearance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.

“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have shown malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am

She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a medical attire and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy recently and my right breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”

The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”

Past Medical Issues

The singer is no stranger to illness. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside career highs, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”

She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career performing in the West End in a musical (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 lightheadedness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a year.”

Oi, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees