You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment readying for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then second single, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while all the while living with breast cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and large glasses. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. She is quick, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her first comedy performance next year. “I like entertaining. During performances I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was getting ready for an performance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense 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?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but this time I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal recently and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
She is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s used to physical challenges. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and young Jessica has entered the trio Soul Deep while studying at the Brit 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 car crash and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a year.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
