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You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The singer-songwriter, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an transparent story, addressing every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while all the while coping with her cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.

She offers me her best “Seriously?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.

Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, cream boots and large glasses. Think biker chic meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Jessie is sharp-witted, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show soon. “I like entertaining. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

She was preparing for an performance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an scan, and they told me, ‘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 numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘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 serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.

“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after eight years without an album and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”

The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”

A History of Health Challenges

The singer is familiar with health problems. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”

She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the West End in the production (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the girl group the group while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”

Hey, I say, slow down, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees