You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. There she was preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jess Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The album, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while coping with the disease. A month later she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, cream boots and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Cornish is sharp-witted, bold and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but this time I just marched with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened four months ago and my one side now appears as a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already making her debut starring in the West End in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Oi, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
