You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. There she was readying for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an transparent story, addressing every moment of pain she’d endured since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time coping with the disease. Subsequently she went public, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think biker chic meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Cornish is sharp-witted, bold and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I often tease the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was planning an slot at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an test, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“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 assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened a few months back and my right breast now resembles a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with high points for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already beginning performing in the London theater in a musical (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a year.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
