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You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.

The artist, actual name Jessica Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an transparent story, dealing with every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later next release, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time living with the disease. Subsequently she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.

She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.

We meet at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Imagine biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Cornish is quick, irreverent and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the audience.”

Personal Battles and News

Cornish was preparing for an slot at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had many commitments.

“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after years away and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

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

She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you roll down in a bed, but now I just strolled down with a gown on and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”

The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her chest, she notes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”

A History of Health Challenges

The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or blow, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”

She takes me back to her childhood, already beginning featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has joined the female band the group while studying at the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”

Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees