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You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with her usual frankness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while living with breast cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.

She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.

Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Jessie is quick, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I basically roast the crowd.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

She was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an scan, and they said, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.

“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted 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 good, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but then I just strolled down with a medical attire and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”

The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”

Past Medical Issues

The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. They have often coincided with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”

She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning 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 found to have the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward six years, and teenage Jess has entered the girl group the group while studying at the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”

Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees