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You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. There she was readying for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.

The musician, real name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while all the while coping with her cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.

She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.

We’re at a studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Imagine biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the film. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her initial standup show soon. “I love making people laugh. When performing I basically roast the fans.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.

“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after a long hiatus and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought 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 considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They lead you. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy recently and my right breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”

The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”

Past Medical Issues

She is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”

She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the stage in the production (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”

Wow, I say, hold on, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees