You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. There she was gearing up for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Then in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicide) with characteristic openness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while still secretly coping with the disease. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I frequently joke about the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was preparing for an appearance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then she 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 debuting the project after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, acting as a reminder, or blow, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has often paired with achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her youth, already beginning performing in the stage in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
