You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an open book, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly coping with the disease. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Think rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the picture. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. She is fast-thinking, bold and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an test, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have come back as aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a gown on and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened four months ago and my right breast now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has often paired with high points for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the West End in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
