You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The record, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an open book, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time dealing with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was getting ready for an performance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but now I just marched with a medical attire and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy recently and my right breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to highlight not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already beginning performing in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and teenage Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
