You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jess Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The album, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an transparent story, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The first single, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later second single, Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time dealing with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and large glasses. Think rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was preparing for an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis 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 [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy recently and my one side now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to highlight not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her childhood, already beginning featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Oi, I say, wait, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
