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You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. There she was readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.

The artist, actual name Jess Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly living with breast cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.

She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.

Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the fans.”

Personal Battles and News

The artist was preparing for an slot at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had many commitments.

“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have shown malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”

The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she observes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”

Past Medical Issues

She is familiar with health problems. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”

She takes me back to her youth, already beginning starring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and teenage Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”

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