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 newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The artist, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while all the while dealing with her cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think rocker vibe meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Cornish is sharp-witted, bold and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was preparing for an performance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after years away and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but this time I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already starting her career starring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio the group while enrolled in the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. 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 long period.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
