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You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment preparing for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.

The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later next release, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with breast cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.

She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.

We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the picture. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is quick, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I basically roast the fans.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had so much on.

“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after years away and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my right breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”

The next operation is for health and appearance. Her chest, she remarks, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”

Past Medical Issues

She is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or blow, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”

She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career performing in the London theater in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a car crash 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