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You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.

The musician, actual name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an open book, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while still secretly dealing with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.

She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.

We meet at a studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Think rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, recalling the picture. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her standup debut next year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the fans.”

Personal Battles and News

She was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.

“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”

The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”

Past Medical Issues

The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has often paired with high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”

She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already beginning performing in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has joined the female band Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a long period.”

Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees