You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. There she was readying for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was thriving, while all the while living with the disease. Subsequently she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and large glasses. Imagine motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Cornish is quick, bold and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I often tease the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was planning an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a medical attire and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already making her debut featuring 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 fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Oi, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
