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You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. There she was readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then second single, Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with her cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in early July she had a mastectomy.

She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.

We meet at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Picture rocker vibe meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the picture. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Cornish is sharp-witted, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I often tease the audience.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

Cornish was planning an appearance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had so much on.

“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after years away and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ 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 viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my right breast now resembles a odd shape.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”

The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”

A History of Health Challenges

Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”

She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut featuring in the West End in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the medical problem WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “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 teenage Jess has become part of the female band the group while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut 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 can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees