You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. At that moment preparing for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with breast cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Think biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the picture. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. She is quick, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was planning an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. 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 following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness 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 contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have shown malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. During crises you go on a gurney, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal recently and my one side now looks like a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her youth, already making her debut performing in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has joined the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
