🔗 Share this article

You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.

The singer-songwriter, birth name Jess Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while still secretly dealing with her cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in July she had a mastectomy.

She shoots me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.

We meet at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Picture motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. She is quick, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the crowd.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

The artist was planning an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had many commitments.

“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after a long hiatus and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am

She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but then I just marched with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but however Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal recently and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”

The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she observes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”

Previous Struggles

She is familiar with health problems. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, acting as a reminder, or shock, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”

She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning starring in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”

Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees