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You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The artist, real name J. Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was meant as an candid account, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with her usual frankness. The initial release, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while living with her cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.

She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.

We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and big frames. Think motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her standup debut in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the audience.”

Personal Battles and News

She was planning an slot at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist 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 nothing. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had a busy schedule.

“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after years away and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ 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 found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened four months ago and my one side now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”

Past Medical Issues

She is familiar with health problems. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, acting as a reminder, or shock, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”

She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already beginning performing in the stage in the production (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently 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 trio Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”

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