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You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. There she was readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.

The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while all the while dealing with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.

She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.

We meet at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and big frames. Picture biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Cornish is quick, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I often tease the crowd.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

Cornish was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.

“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after eight years without an album and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt 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 considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal recently and my right breast now appears as a odd shape.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”

The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”

Previous Struggles

She is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”

She recalls to her youth, already starting her career starring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the female band Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”

Oi, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees