You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jessica Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an transparent story, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly coping with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and oversized specs. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the film. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Cornish is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show soon. “I like entertaining. During performances I frequently joke about the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was getting ready for an slot at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have shown malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but now I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal recently and my right breast now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her chest, she notes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is familiar with health problems. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career starring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and teenage Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a year.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
