You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The artist, birth name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, losing a baby, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while all the while coping with her cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and big frames. Think biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Cornish is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I like entertaining. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after years away and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but this time I just strolled down with a medical attire and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my one side now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already beginning performing in the West End in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Wow, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
