You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly dealing with her cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the picture. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I frequently joke about the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was planning an slot at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have shown malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “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 frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They lead you. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but this time I just strolled down with a medical attire and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy recently and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is familiar with health problems. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career performing in the West End in the production (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Hey, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
