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You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. There she was gearing up for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was found to have breast cancer.

The singer-songwriter, actual name J. Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The album, her latest release, was meant as an candid account, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then next release, Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while at the same time dealing with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.

She offers me her best “Seriously?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.

We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and big frames. Think biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Cornish is sharp-witted, bold and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her initial standup show in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I frequently joke about the crowd.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had many commitments.

“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after a long hiatus and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but this time I just marched with a medical attire and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy recently and my right breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The next operation is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”

Past Medical Issues

She is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”

She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning featuring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and young Jessica has joined the girl group Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a year.”

Oi, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees