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You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.

The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an transparent story, addressing every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly dealing with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.

She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.

We meet at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Think rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the audience.”

Personal Battles and News

Cornish was preparing for an performance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had so much on.

“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a hospital gown and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy recently and my affected breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The next operation is for health and appearance. Her chest, she remarks, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”

Past Medical Issues

The singer is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or shock, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”

She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut performing in the London theater in a musical (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”

Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees