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You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while coping with the disease. Subsequently she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.

We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is sharp-witted, bold and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I like entertaining. On stage I frequently joke about the crowd.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

Cornish was preparing for an performance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ 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 Monday. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.

“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after years away and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have come back as aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ 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. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a medical attire and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal a few months back and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”

The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”

A History of Health Challenges

She is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”

She reminisces to her youth, already beginning featuring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward six years, and teenage Jess has entered the female band Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”

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