You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. There she was gearing up for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, actual name Jessica Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time living with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and large glasses. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. She is fast-thinking, bold and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was planning an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but now I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal a few months back and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. Frequently they align with career highs, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already beginning featuring in the stage in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and teenage Jess has entered the female band Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. 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 was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Hey, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
