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You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. There she was readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The artist, birth name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an transparent story, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with characteristic openness. The initial release, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly dealing with her cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She gives me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.

We’re at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is sharp-witted, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance soon. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the audience.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

The artist was planning an slot at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had many commitments.

“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am

She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just marched with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal four months ago and my one side now resembles a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. 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 perfect. My plans were disrupted.”

Past Medical Issues

Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”

She takes me back to her childhood, already beginning starring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has entered the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”

Hey, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees