You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Then in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, actual name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was meant as an transparent story, tackling every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then second single, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and she was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while dealing with her cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Cornish is quick, irreverent and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I frequently joke about the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was preparing for an slot at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after years away and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but now I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my one side now appears as a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. 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 ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is familiar with health problems. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s familiar with physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a year.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
