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You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.

The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an candid account, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while all the while dealing with the disease. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.

She offers me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.

Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and large glasses. Imagine rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Cornish is sharp-witted, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I frequently joke about the audience.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

She was planning an slot at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had a busy schedule.

“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call believing 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, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but this time I just strolled down with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but however Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”

The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she notes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”

A History of Health Challenges

Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”

She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the stage in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has entered the girl group the group while enrolled in the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”

Oi, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees