You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The musician, real name Jess Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The record, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last made an album (endometrial issues, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while coping with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. She is sharp-witted, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I basically roast the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was preparing for an slot at the awards show when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have indicated malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but however Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal recently and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Amusingly 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.”
Past Medical Issues
She is familiar with health problems. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Frequently they align with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the medical problem WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Hey, I say, wait, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
