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You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. There she was readying for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.

The artist, birth name Jessica Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, broken romances, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The initial release, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then next release, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with breast cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.

She gives me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.

We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Picture biker chic meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the picture. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Cornish is quick, irreverent and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I often tease the crowd.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had a busy schedule.

“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after years away and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but now I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”

The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”

A History of Health Challenges

The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”

She reminisces to her youth, already beginning performing in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”

Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees