You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. There she was readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The musician, birth name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an open book, addressing every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while coping with the disease. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a studio in London. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Think biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her initial standup show soon. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was preparing for an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an test, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have shown malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but now I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is no stranger to illness. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her youth, already beginning starring in the London theater in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and teenage Jess has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
