You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The LP, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later next release, Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while all the while coping with the disease. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she 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 light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and big frames. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is sharp-witted, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show soon. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was preparing for an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after years away and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have come back as malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt 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 dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened a few months back and my one side now resembles a odd shape.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her chest, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. Frequently they align with career highs, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning featuring in the London theater in the production (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
