You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. At that moment readying for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, real name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while dealing with the disease. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and large glasses. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. She is fast-thinking, bold and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after years away and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but this time I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal recently and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her youth, already making her debut featuring in the stage in a musical (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while studying at 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 the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
