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You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. There she was readying for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly dealing with her cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.

She offers me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.

We meet at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Cornish is quick, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her initial standup show soon. “I like entertaining. During performances I frequently joke about the crowd.”

Personal Battles and News

She was planning an slot at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.

“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after years away and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ 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 found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”

The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”

Previous Struggles

She is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside high points 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 West End in a musical (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”

Oi, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees