You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. At that moment gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, birth name J. Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then second single, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was thriving, while at the same time coping with her cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and large glasses. Think rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Cornish is quick, bold and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I like entertaining. On stage I often tease the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have indicated malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my right breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Amusingly 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
She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Frequently they align with career highs, acting as a reminder, or shock, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her youth, already making her debut starring in the London theater in a musical (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
