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You can’t imagine it, the singer states. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.

The artist, birth name Jess Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The album, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The first single, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was thriving, while still secretly coping with breast cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in July she had a mastectomy.

She offers me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.

Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and big frames. Think biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. She is sharp-witted, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I love making people laugh. When performing I frequently joke about the fans.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

Cornish was getting ready for an performance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an test, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced 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 debuting the project after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but this time I just walked with a gown on and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal recently and my one side now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”

The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she observes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”

Previous Struggles

Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”

She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career performing in the London theater in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”

Wow, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees