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You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. There she was preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Then in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.

The singer-songwriter, birth name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while still secretly living with her cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in July she had a mastectomy.

She offers me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.

We meet at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Cornish is sharp-witted, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show in the coming year. “I like entertaining. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

She was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.

“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. During crises you are wheeled, but this time I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy recently and my affected breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”

The next operation is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”

A History of Health Challenges

The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. Frequently they align with career highs, acting as a reminder, or shock, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has often paired with achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”

She reminisces to her youth, already making her debut featuring in the West End in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a long period.”

Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees