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You can’t imagine it, the singer states. There she was readying for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.

The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was intended as an open book, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with her cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in early July she received surgical treatment.

She offers me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.

Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and large glasses. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, bold and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I frequently joke about the fans.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

She was planning an slot at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had many commitments.

“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

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

She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but now I just marched with a medical attire and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal a few months back and my one side now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”

The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. 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 hard period. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”

Past Medical Issues

Cornish is no stranger to illness. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”

She recalls to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio the group while attending the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”

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