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You can’t imagine it, the singer says. At that moment preparing for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in March she was found to have breast cancer.

The musician, birth name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an transparent story, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later second single, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time coping with the disease. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She gives me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.

We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”

Personal Battles and News

Cornish was getting ready for an slot at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.

“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. During crises you go on a gurney, but this time I just strolled down with a gown on and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”

The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”

Past Medical Issues

Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”

She recalls to her youth, already beginning featuring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the girl group the group while attending the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a year.”

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