You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. There she was preparing for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The musician, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” 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 dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and large glasses. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I like entertaining. On stage I basically roast the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an performance 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; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after years away and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, 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 fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal recently and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her chest, she notes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, 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 WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
