You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The initial release, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while coping with breast cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an test, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after years away and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal four months ago and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ 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 recalls to her youth, already making her debut featuring 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 WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
