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You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. There she was preparing 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, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.

The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an transparent story, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while still secretly coping with the disease. A month later she went public, and in early 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 giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.

We’re at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and oversized specs. Think rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. She is quick, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance next year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I frequently joke about the audience.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

The artist was preparing for an appearance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had many commitments.

“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after years away and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They walk you down. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but however Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened four months ago and my right breast now resembles a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”

The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”

A History of Health Challenges

Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”

She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut featuring in the stage in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”

Oi, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees