You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, actual name J. Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later next release, 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 coping with her cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and big frames. Think motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her initial standup show in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I basically roast the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I 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 viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
She is no stranger to illness. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already making her debut performing in the West End in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio the group while attending the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
