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You can’t imagine it, the singer states. At that moment preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Then in spring she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.

The musician, real name J. Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an transparent story, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time living with the disease. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in July she received surgical treatment.

She offers me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.

We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and big frames. Imagine rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I frequently joke about the crowd.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

The artist was preparing for an slot at the awards show when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.

“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but now I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging 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 procedure. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”

Past Medical Issues

The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”

She reminisces to her childhood, already making her debut featuring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward six years, and young Jessica has joined the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”

Oi, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees