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You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.

The musician, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicide) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time dealing with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she had a mastectomy.

She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.

We’re at a photo studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture biker chic meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. 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 basically roast the crowd.”

Personal Battles and News

She was planning an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my 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 Cornish had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had many commitments.

“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted 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, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy recently and my affected breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”

Previous Struggles

She is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s familiar with health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to highlight not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”

She recalls to her childhood, already making her debut starring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”

Oi, I say, wait, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees