You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time living with the disease. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and oversized specs. Think rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Cornish is fast-thinking, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I like entertaining. On stage I basically roast the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was planning an performance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after years away and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but this time I just strolled down with a medical attire and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my right breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career performing in the London theater in the production (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
