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You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. There she was preparing for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Then in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The singer-songwriter, actual name J. Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicide) with typical candour. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and she was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while all the while living with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.

She shoots me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.

We’re at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I often tease the fans.”

Personal Battles and News

Cornish was preparing for an slot at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an scan, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.

“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ 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 fine, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful 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 scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a medical attire and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”

The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”

Previous Struggles

Cornish is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. Many times they occur alongside career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”

She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”

Oi, I say, slow down, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees