You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while all the while dealing with her cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. She is sharp-witted, bold and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was planning an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ 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 terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal a few months back and my right breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the London theater in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has joined the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
