You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. At that moment readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (endometriosis, losing a baby, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time coping with breast cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Jessie is quick, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance next year. “I like entertaining. On stage I often tease the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was preparing for an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a medical attire and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal a few months back and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her youth, already making her debut featuring in the London theater in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
