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You can’t imagine it, the singer says. At that moment preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.

The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, broken romances, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and she was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time dealing with breast cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.

She gives me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.

Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and big frames. Think biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is quick, bold and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

Cornish was preparing for an slot at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had assured herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.

“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am

She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened four months ago and my one side now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”

The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”

Past Medical Issues

The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or blow, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”

She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut starring in the London theater in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a year.”

Wow, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees