You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The artist, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an open book, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while living with breast cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. She is sharp-witted, bold and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an scan, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but this time I just walked with a hospital gown and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy recently and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has often paired with high points for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already beginning performing in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
