You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d endured since she last made an album (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, 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, came out in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly coping with her cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and large glasses. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I love making people laugh. When performing I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after eight years without an album and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning performing in the London theater in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the female band the group while studying at the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
