You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. At that moment preparing for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while all the while coping with her cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and big frames. Think motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the picture. “They used to call me that!” She beams. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I often tease the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an scan, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“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, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just marched with a medical attire and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal recently and my one side now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. They have often coincided with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or shock, to highlight not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has often paired with high points for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning starring in the stage in the production (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and teenage Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Hey, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
