You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. At that moment preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The musician, birth name J. Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with characteristic openness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while at the same time dealing with the disease. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Cornish 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. During performances I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
She was planning an appearance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after eight years without an album and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. During crises you roll down in a bed, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already making her debut performing in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
