You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. There she was readying for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was meant as an transparent story, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and oversized specs. Imagine biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I basically roast the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was planning an slot at the awards show when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but now 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 chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened a few months back and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! 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 no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to physical challenges. Frequently they align with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut starring in the West End in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and teenage Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
