‘It has made me live life more’: Jessie J on cancer, comebacks and cracking China

You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.

The singer-songwriter, real name J. Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The album, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in early July she received surgical treatment.

She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.

Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Imagine rocker vibe 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 film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is sharp-witted, bold and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the fans.”

Personal Battles and News

Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had so much on.

“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after eight years without an album and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

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

She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but now I just strolled down 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 blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my right breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The next operation is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”

Past Medical Issues

She is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”

She takes me back to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat 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 jumps ahead half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”

Hey, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees