You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Then in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, actual name J. Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The record, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with breast cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and oversized specs. Think biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Cornish is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was preparing for an performance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy recently and my affected breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she notes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her childhood, already starting her career performing in the stage in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
