You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. There she was readying for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The artist, actual name Jess Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The record, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an transparent story, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicide) with characteristic openness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly dealing with the disease. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance next year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I often tease the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was planning an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought 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 frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a hospital gown and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal recently and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, acting as a reminder, or blow, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already beginning starring in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White 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 fast-forwards six years, and teenage Jess has joined the trio the group while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
