You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. There she was readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while living with breast cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the picture. “They used to call me that!” She grins. She is quick, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show soon. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have shown malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just strolled down with a medical attire and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her youth, already starting her career featuring in the West End in a musical (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the medical problem WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and teenage Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
