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You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. There she was readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an open book, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time living with breast cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She shoots me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.

We’re at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and large glasses. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Cornish is sharp-witted, irreverent and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the crowd.”

Personal Battles and News

The artist was getting ready for an performance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to get cancer 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 the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful 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 frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal recently and my right breast now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”

The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”

Past Medical Issues

Cornish is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or blow, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”

She reminisces to her youth, already starting her career performing in the London theater in the production (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and young Jessica has become part of the female band Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”

Hey, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees