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You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. There she was readying for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.

The musician, actual name Jessica Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an open book, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, losing a baby, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was talking to press about how she was thriving, while at the same time coping with breast cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She gives me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.

Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. When performing I often tease the audience.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

The artist was preparing for an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an test, and they said, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had so much on.

“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but this time I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”

The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”

A History of Health Challenges

She is no stranger to illness. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”

She reminisces to her childhood, already making her debut starring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio the group while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a year.”

Wow, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees