You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. There she was preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while still secretly coping with her cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and big frames. Picture motorcycle style 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, referencing the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is quick, bold and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an scan, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have shown malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened recently and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career performing in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has joined the trio Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
