You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Then in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an open book, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicide) with typical candour. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while all the while coping with the disease. Subsequently she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. She is quick, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her initial standup show in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I often tease the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
She was planning an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project 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, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but this time 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 fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal four months ago and my one side now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. 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 perfect. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
She is familiar with health problems. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut performing in the West End in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the girl group the group while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
