You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. There she was gearing up for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, actual name J. Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometriosis, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later second single, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly coping with the disease. A month later she went public, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and large glasses. Think rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is fast-thinking, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I basically roast the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my backside 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 surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or shock, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has often paired with moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut starring in the West End in the production (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees