You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. There she was readying for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, 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 diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The record, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, bold and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was preparing for an slot at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs 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 roll down in a bed, but now I just strolled down with a gown on and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “It’s terrible, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my right breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already beginning performing in the London theater in the production (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
