You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time living with the disease. A month later she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and big frames. Think biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the picture. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was getting ready for an slot at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an test, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘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 reach out on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after years away and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have indicated malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I 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 found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal recently and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already beginning performing in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
