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You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. At that moment readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.

The musician, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last made an album (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly coping with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.

Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and big frames. Picture biker chic meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the fans.”

Personal Battles and News

She was planning an performance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had so much on.

“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after years away and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs 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 are wheeled, but then I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation 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 believes her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”

She recalls to her youth, already beginning starring in the West End in the production (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group the group while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”

Hey, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees