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You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. At that moment preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in March she was told she had breast cancer.

The singer-songwriter, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an open book, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with breast cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She offers me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.

We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Think rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Jessie is quick, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show soon. “I love making people laugh. On stage I often tease the audience.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

The artist was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had many commitments.

“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after years away and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought 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 found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but now I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”

The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”

Previous Struggles

The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”

She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career performing in the London theater in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”

Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees