You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. There she was readying for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an open book, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly coping with the disease. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her standup debut next year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was planning an appearance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought 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. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ 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 Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after years away and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. 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 found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s familiar with physical challenges. They have often coincided with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her childhood, already making her debut featuring in the London theater in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward six years, and teenage Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
