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You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. At that moment preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Then in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The artist, real name J. Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last made an album (endometriosis, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while living with breast cancer. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.

She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.

Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Picture motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. She is fast-thinking, bold and direct. 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 crowd.”

Personal Battles and News

The artist was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.

“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am

She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my one side now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The next operation is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”

Previous Struggles

She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”

She recalls to her youth, already making her debut performing in the London theater in the production (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and teenage Jess has joined the female band the group while enrolled in 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 car crash and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”

Oi, I say, slow down, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees