You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an open book, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The initial release, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly coping with breast cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, cream boots and large glasses. Think rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the film. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance next year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an scan, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just marched with a medical attire and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “It’s terrible, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is no stranger to illness. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or blow, to remind her not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career starring in the stage in the production (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “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 was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
