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You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Then in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.

The singer-songwriter, actual name Jessica Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later second single, Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while coping with her cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.

We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and big frames. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. She is fast-thinking, bold and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I basically roast the fans.”

Personal Battles and News

The artist was preparing for an appearance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.

“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now appears as a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”

The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”

A History of Health Challenges

She is familiar with health problems. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, acting as a reminder, or blow, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”

She takes me back to her youth, already beginning starring in the London theater in a musical (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”

Hey, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees