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You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.

The singer-songwriter, birth name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an candid account, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The initial release, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later next release, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was thriving, while all the while coping with breast cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.

She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.

We meet at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. She is quick, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance soon. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

The artist was preparing for an slot at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing 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 she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk 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, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but now I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened recently and my right breast now resembles a odd shape.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”

Past Medical Issues

Cornish is familiar with health problems. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to physical challenges. They have often coincided with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has often paired with high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”

She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career starring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has joined the trio Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”

Hey, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees