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You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.

The singer-songwriter, birth name Jessica Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The record, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, broken romances, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while at the same time dealing with the disease. A month later she went public, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She shoots me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.

We’re at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and big frames. Think motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show in the coming year. “I like entertaining. On stage I frequently joke about the fans.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

The artist was getting ready for 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 insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced 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 no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt 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 viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my one side now resembles a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The next operation is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”

A History of Health Challenges

Cornish is familiar with health problems. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”

She takes me back to her childhood, already starting her career starring in the stage in the production (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has joined the female band Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”

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