You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. There she was readying for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, real name J. Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was supposed to be an transparent story, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while all the while coping with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Think motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Cornish is quick, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I like entertaining. During performances I often tease the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was planning an appearance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after years away and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a hospital gown and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my right breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because 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
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut featuring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (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 vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead 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 cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
