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You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. At that moment preparing for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Then in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.

The musician, real name Jessica Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an transparent story, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time coping with her cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.

She gives me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.

We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and oversized specs. Think rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her initial standup show in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the fans.”

Personal Battles and News

Cornish was planning an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘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?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish 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 releasing the album after a long hiatus and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am

She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a hospital gown and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened four months ago and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”

The next operation is for health and appearance. Her chest, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”

Previous Struggles

The singer is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”

She takes me back to her childhood, already starting her career performing in the London theater in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward six years, and teenage Jess has become part of the girl group the group while studying at the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”

Hey, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees