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You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. At that moment readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.

The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.

She offers me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.

Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. She is quick, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

The artist was planning an appearance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.

“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after years away and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ 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 reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a odd shape.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”

The next operation is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she observes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”

Previous Struggles

Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”

She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career starring in the London theater in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the female band Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts 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 collision and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a year.”

Hey, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees