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You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was told she had breast cancer.

The singer-songwriter, actual name Jessica Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an open book, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was thriving, while all the while coping with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.

She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.

We meet at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Imagine biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the picture. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show next year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I often tease the fans.”

Personal Battles and News

The artist was getting ready for an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had a busy schedule.

“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after eight years without an album and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful 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 frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a gown on and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”

The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”

Past Medical Issues

The singer is no stranger to illness. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s used to medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or blow, to remind her not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”

She recalls to her youth, already beginning performing in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”

Wow, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees