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You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The artist, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The record, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last made an album (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then next release, Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while living with her cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.

Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I frequently joke about the audience.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

Cornish was planning an performance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.

“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after years away and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just strolled down with a medical attire and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”

The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”

Past Medical Issues

The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s used to 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. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”

She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career performing in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has joined the female band the group while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”

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