You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an open book, addressing every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time dealing with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, recalling the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. She is quick, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album 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 join the call believing it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a hospital gown and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her childhood, already beginning starring in the stage in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Oi, I say, wait, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
