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You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.

The singer-songwriter, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an transparent story, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The first single, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while coping with her cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.

She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.

Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”

Personal Battles and News

The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.

“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after a long hiatus and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful 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 viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They lead you. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my right breast now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”

The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”

Past Medical Issues

The singer is familiar with health problems. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has often paired with achievements for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”

She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning starring in the West End in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”

Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees