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You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. At that moment preparing for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.

The musician, real name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time dealing with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.

We meet at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I like entertaining. During performances I basically roast the fans.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

The artist was planning an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.

“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ The first thing I 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 dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but now I just strolled down with a gown on and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal recently and my one side now resembles a odd shape.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”

The next operation is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”

Past Medical Issues

Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”

She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career performing in the London theater in a musical (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward six years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”

Oi, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees