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You can’t imagine it, the singer says. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The artist, birth name Jessica Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with breast cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in July she had a mastectomy.

She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.

We’re at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Cornish is quick, bold and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut next year. “I like entertaining. On stage I basically roast the audience.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

The artist was planning an slot at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had so much on.

“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after years away and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have shown aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but this time I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal four months ago and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”

A History of Health Challenges

The singer is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. They have often coincided with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or shock, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”

She recalls to her youth, already beginning performing in the stage in a musical (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the female band the group while enrolled in the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”

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