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You can’t imagine it, the singer states. There she was gearing up for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.

The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an transparent story, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while still secretly coping with her cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.

She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.

We’re at a studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and big frames. Think rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the picture. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Jessie is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I frequently joke about the fans.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

The artist was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.

“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal recently and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”

The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”

Past Medical Issues

The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s used to medical emergencies. They have often coincided with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”

She takes me back to her youth, already making her debut starring in the West End in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and teenage Jess has joined the girl group the group while studying at the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”

Wow, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees