You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. There she was readying for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, real name J. Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an transparent story, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while still secretly dealing with her cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was planning an performance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after years away and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but then I just marched with a hospital gown and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal recently and my one side now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to highlight not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut featuring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
