You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, actual name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and she was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while dealing with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her standup debut soon. “I like entertaining. During performances I basically roast the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was planning an performance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing 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, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy recently and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already beginning starring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
