You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. At that moment readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, actual name J. Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an open book, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The first single, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then second single, Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with breast cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Imagine biker chic meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
She was preparing for an performance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went 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, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and an extended break. 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 jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just marched with a medical attire 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 Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my right breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her chest, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning starring in the stage in the production (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and teenage Jess has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a year.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
