You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jessica Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the movie. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Jessie is quick, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
She was getting ready for an slot at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an scan, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after years away and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but this time I just marched with a medical attire and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my one side now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is familiar with health problems. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning performing in the London theater in the production (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. 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 lost my voice for a year.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
