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You can’t imagine it, the singer states. At that moment readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Then in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.

The artist, actual name Jess Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was meant as an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with her cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.

She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.

Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Think rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the picture. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Cornish is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I basically roast the fans.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.

“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after years away and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have shown malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “It’s terrible, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal recently and my right breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”

The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. 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 flawless. Illness changed that.”

Past Medical Issues

Cornish is familiar with health problems. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”

She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career starring in the stage in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”

Hey, I say, wait, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees