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You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.

The singer-songwriter, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The record, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, broken romances, gaslighting, suicide) with characteristic openness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while all the while living with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in early July she received surgical treatment.

She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.

Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut next year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I often tease the audience.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.

“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have indicated malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, 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 blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy recently and my one side now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”

The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her chest, she notes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”

A History of Health Challenges

She is familiar with health problems. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”

She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career starring in the London theater in the production (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”

Hey, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees