You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, actual name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an candid account, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while coping with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and big frames. Think biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. She is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I frequently joke about the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was preparing for an performance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a medical attire and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is familiar with health problems. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her youth, already beginning performing in the stage 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 irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Hey, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
