You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. There she was readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, birth name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an open book, dealing with every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and large glasses. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Cornish is sharp-witted, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her standup debut next year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was planning an appearance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after a long hiatus and no new music. 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 join the call believing it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but this time I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her chest, she notes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is familiar with health problems. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s used to medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning performing in the London theater in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and teenage Jess has joined the girl group the group while attending the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
