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You can’t imagine it, the singer says. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was found to have breast cancer.

The singer-songwriter, actual name J. Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The record, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an open book, addressing every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time dealing with the disease. A month later she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.

She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.

We’re at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and large glasses. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I frequently joke about the fans.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

Cornish was preparing for an performance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an scan, and they said, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.

“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. 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 found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but then I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened recently and my right breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”

The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”

A History of Health Challenges

Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside career highs, acting as a reminder, or blow, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with high points for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”

She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the West End in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts 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 automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”

Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees