‘It has taught me to embrace life more’: Jessie J on cancer, comebacks and conquering the Chinese market

You can’t imagine it, the singer says. There she was readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.

The musician, birth name Jessica Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, broken romances, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later second single, Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while all the while coping with breast cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in early July she had a mastectomy.

She gives me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.

We meet at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Think rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I frequently joke about the fans.”

Personal Battles and News

The artist was planning an slot at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.

“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I 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. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my right breast now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”

The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”

A History of Health Challenges

The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”

She recalls to her youth, already making her debut starring in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and young Jessica has entered the trio Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a year.”

Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees