You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. There she was preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The musician, birth name Jessica Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an transparent story, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last made an album (endometrial issues, losing a baby, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time dealing with breast cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Imagine rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I like entertaining. During performances I frequently joke about the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was planning an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘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 concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after eight years without an album and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. During crises you go on a gurney, but this time I just walked with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “It’s terrible, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my one side now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is familiar with health problems. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or blow, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her childhood, already beginning starring in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
