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You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Then in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.

The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was intended as an open book, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while all the while dealing with her cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.

She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.

Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is sharp-witted, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show soon. “I like entertaining. On stage I basically roast the crowd.”

Personal Battles and News

The artist was planning an slot at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.

“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ My initial thought 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. You’re escorted. During crises you roll down in a bed, but this time I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal a few months back and my one side now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”

The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”

A History of Health Challenges

Cornish is familiar with health problems. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with physical challenges. They have often coincided with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”

She recalls to her youth, already starting her career starring in the stage in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and young Jessica has become part of 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 about to put out music in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”

Hey, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees