You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. There she was preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jessica Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, losing a baby, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly living with the disease. Subsequently she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. She is fast-thinking, bold and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her standup debut next year. “I like entertaining. On stage I basically roast the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
She was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after years away and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking 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 come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened four months ago and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with achievements for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already starting her career starring in the stage in the production (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward several years, and teenage Jess has joined the girl group the group while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
