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You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.

The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while at the same time dealing with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in July she received surgical treatment.

She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.

We meet at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the film. “They used to call me that!” She beams. She is quick, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I like entertaining. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

She was preparing for an slot at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.

“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after years away and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”

Past Medical Issues

She is familiar with health problems. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to highlight not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”

She recalls to her youth, already starting her career performing in the stage in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio the group while enrolled in the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”

Hey, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees