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You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. There she was readying for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.

The artist, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last made an album (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time living with her cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.

She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.

We meet at a studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Imagine biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She beams. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. When performing I basically roast the audience.”

Personal Battles and News

The artist was getting ready for an slot at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had so much on.

“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but this time I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “It’s terrible, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”

The next operation is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she observes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”

Past Medical Issues

She is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”

She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career performing in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the girl group the group while enrolled in the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”

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