You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, actual name Jessica Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The album, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, broken romances, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was thriving, while still secretly living with her cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, recalling the film. “They used to call me that!” She grins. She is quick, bold and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show next year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I frequently joke about the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after years away and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I felt, why make it worse, 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 perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her youth, already making her debut performing in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
