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You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later second single, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time living with the disease. A month later she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.

She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.

We’re at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and large glasses. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Jessie is fast-thinking, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show next year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I basically roast the audience.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

The artist was preparing for an slot at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.

“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after eight years without an album and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal recently and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”

The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”

A History of Health Challenges

She is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. Many times they occur alongside career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”

She recalls to her youth, already starting her career starring in the stage in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the girl group the group while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”

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