You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. There she was readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love 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 told she had cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an transparent story, addressing every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time dealing with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, cream boots and large glasses. 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.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the film. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. She is quick, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was planning an appearance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after years away and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but this time I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, acting as a reminder, or shock, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning featuring in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the medical problem WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
