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You can’t imagine it, the singer says. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Then in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.

The musician, real name Jess Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an candid account, tackling every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time coping with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She shoots me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.

We’re at a studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Think biker chic meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. She is quick, bold and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her standup debut soon. “I like entertaining. When performing I frequently joke about the audience.”

Personal Battles and News

The artist was planning an slot at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had so much on.

“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but this time I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”

The next operation is for health and appearance. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”

Previous Struggles

She is familiar with health problems. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with health crises. Many times they occur alongside career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with high points for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”

She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the female band the group while studying at the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”

Wow, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees