You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, actual name J. Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was meant as an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then second single, Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time coping with breast cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and large glasses. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her initial standup show soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I frequently joke about the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
She was planning an slot at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my right breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
She is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside career highs, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career featuring in the London theater in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “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 voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
