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You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. At that moment preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in March she was told she had breast cancer.

The artist, birth name Jess Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The first single, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She gives me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.

Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, cream boots and large glasses. Picture biker chic meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the picture. “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 soon. “I love making people laugh. When performing I often tease the audience.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

She was planning an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.

“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have shown malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened recently and my right breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”

The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”

A History of Health Challenges

The singer is no stranger to illness. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with physical challenges. They have often coincided with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”

She takes me back to her youth, already making her debut performing in the West End in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem a 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 returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the girl group the group while attending the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”

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