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You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. At that moment preparing for her first album release in eight years, 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 spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.

The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The first single, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while dealing with her cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.

She offers me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.

Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She beams. She is fast-thinking, bold and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

She was getting ready for an slot at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.

“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after eight years without an album and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my right breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”

A History of Health Challenges

She is familiar with health problems. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s familiar with health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”

She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and young Jessica has joined the girl group the group while enrolled in the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”

Oi, I say, hold on, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees