You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. There she was preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was told she had breast cancer.
The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The album, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an transparent story, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time living with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. She is quick, bold and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was planning an performance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after years away and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have indicated malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great 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. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but now I just marched with a medical attire and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is familiar with health problems. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. They have often coincided with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with high points for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her youth, already beginning performing in the stage in the production (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward six years, and young Jessica has joined the trio the group while attending the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
