You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while at the same time living with the disease. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, 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 awaiting follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the picture. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was preparing for an slot at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have come back as malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or blow, to highlight not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already starting her career starring in the London theater in the production (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and teenage Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Wow, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
