You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Then in spring she was told she had breast cancer.
The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an transparent story, addressing every moment of pain she’d endured since she last made an album (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with the disease. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Jessie is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. On stage I often tease the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had assured herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have shown malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought 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 frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened four months ago and my one side now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is no stranger to illness. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has entered the female band Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I just got my first record 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 couldn’t sing for a year.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
