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You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.

The artist, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with the disease. Subsequently she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.

She offers me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.

We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the picture. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her first comedy performance next year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I frequently joke about the audience.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

The artist was planning an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an scan, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had many commitments.

“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am

She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. During crises you roll down in a bed, but this time I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my affected breast now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”

The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”

Previous Struggles

She is familiar with health problems. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”

She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career starring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and teenage Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”

Hey, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees