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

You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. At that moment preparing for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was told she had breast cancer.

The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The album, her latest release, was meant as an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was thriving, while all the while dealing with her cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.

We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Picture biker chic meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Cornish is sharp-witted, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I basically roast the audience.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

She was getting ready for an appearance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had so much on.

“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened recently and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her chest, she remarks, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”

Past Medical Issues

The singer is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”

She reminisces to her childhood, already making her debut performing in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band the group while studying at the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”

Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees