You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. At that moment preparing 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 facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jessica Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with the disease. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and oversized specs. 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, recalling the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was preparing for an performance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but this time I just marched with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal a few months back and my right breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. 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. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is no stranger to illness. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has often paired with achievements for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning performing in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
