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You can’t imagine it, the singer states. There she was preparing for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The singer-songwriter, actual name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an candid account, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with her cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.

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

We meet at a studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and big frames. Think motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

The artist was planning an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had so much on.

“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! 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 avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”

Past Medical Issues

She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”

She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning performing 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 WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and young Jessica has joined the girl group the group while enrolled in the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a year.”

Hey, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees