You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. There she was preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, losing a baby, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then second single, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while all the while coping with her cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Cornish is quick, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her first comedy performance next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I frequently joke about the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my 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 fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. 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 fear going under. They walk you down. During crises you roll down in a bed, but now I just walked with a hospital gown and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her youth, already beginning performing in the London theater in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and young Jessica has joined the trio the group while studying at the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
