‘It has taught me to embrace life more’: Jessie J on cancer, comebacks and cracking China

You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. There she was readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.

The artist, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was meant as an transparent story, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, broken romances, gaslighting, suicide) with characteristic openness. The initial release, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then next release, Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly coping with the disease. Subsequently she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.

She offers me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.

Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is quick, irreverent and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I often tease the audience.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

She was planning an slot at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.

“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after years away and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They lead you. During crises you roll down in a bed, but now I just walked 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. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal recently and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The next operation is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “uneven. 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 rough time. 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 perfect. Illness changed that.”

A History of Health Challenges

Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s familiar with health crises. Many times they occur alongside career highs, acting as a reminder, or blow, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”

She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already beginning starring in the West End in the production (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”

Wow, I say, hold on, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees