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You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.

The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, losing a baby, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The initial release, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with her cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.

She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.

We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is quick, irreverent and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I like entertaining. During performances I often tease the fans.”

Personal Battles and News

The artist was preparing for an slot at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had so much on.

“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after years away and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have shown malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but then I just marched with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my right breast now appears as a odd shape.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”

Past Medical Issues

Cornish is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s used to medical emergencies. Frequently they align with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has often paired with high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”

She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut featuring in the stage in the production (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”

Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees