You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. There she was preparing for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name Jessica Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an transparent story, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was thriving, while all the while dealing with the disease. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Cornish is quick, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I frequently joke about the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was preparing for an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. During crises you roll down in a bed, but this time I just strolled down with a medical attire and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer 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, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her youth, already making her debut featuring in the West End in the production (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
