You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. There she was readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The record, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later second single, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and she was talking to press about how she was thriving, while at the same time coping with breast cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the film. “They used to call me that!” She beams. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I like entertaining. During performances I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
She was getting ready for an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened four months ago and my one side now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already making her debut starring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a year.”
Hey, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
