You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy 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. Suddenly in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jess Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an open book, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last made an album (endometriosis, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The initial release, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while still secretly coping with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was getting ready for an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after years away and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is no stranger to illness. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. Frequently they align with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her youth, already beginning featuring in the West End in the production (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Wow, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
