You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. At that moment preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jess Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Think biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, recalling the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I often tease the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior 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, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal recently and my right breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her childhood, already starting her career performing in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and teenage Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
