You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jessica Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The record, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly dealing with breast cancer. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Imagine rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is quick, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her standup debut in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was planning an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a hospital gown and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her youth, already making her debut starring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has entered the female band Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
