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You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an open book, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was thriving, while at the same time dealing with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.

She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.

Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is quick, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the fans.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

She was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.

“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but this time I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened four months ago and my right breast now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”

The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”

Past Medical Issues

She is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”

She recalls to her youth, already beginning performing in the West End in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has entered the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a year.”

Hey, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees