You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The musician, birth name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time dealing with her cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, 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 yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the film. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Cornish is quick, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I like entertaining. During performances I often tease the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was planning an appearance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains 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 no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. 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 lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal recently and my right breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Frequently they align with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her youth, already making her debut performing in the West End in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
