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You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. At that moment preparing for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Then in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.

The artist, birth name Jess Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an open book, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time living with her cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she had a mastectomy.

She shoots me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.

We meet at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and big frames. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Jessie is quick, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the fans.”

Personal Battles and News

Cornish was planning an appearance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.

“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project 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 log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They lead you. During crises you roll down in a bed, but this time I just marched with a gown on and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened recently and my right breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”

The next operation is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Ironically 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

She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Frequently they align with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”

She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career starring in the London theater in the production (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with 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 six years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band the group while enrolled in the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”

Hey, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees