You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name J. Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an candid account, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with typical candour. The first single, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then next release, Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly coping with the disease. Subsequently she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Cornish is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show soon. “I like entertaining. During performances I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was planning an appearance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an test, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They lead you. During crises you roll down in a bed, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is familiar with health problems. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. They have often coincided with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career performing in the West End in the production (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio the group while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
