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You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. There she was readying for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.

The musician, real name J. Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later second single, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while all the while coping with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.

She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.

We meet at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Imagine biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, recalling the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. She is sharp-witted, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I frequently joke about the audience.”

Personal Battles and News

She was planning an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an test, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had many commitments.

“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on 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 fear going under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”

The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”

Previous Struggles

She is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”

She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career performing in the West End in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine years old). 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 attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has entered the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”

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