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You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.

The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an open book, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, broken romances, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and she was talking to press about how she was thriving, while all the while coping with the disease. Subsequently she went public, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She offers me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.

We meet at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and large glasses. Imagine biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. She is fast-thinking, bold and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. On stage I basically roast the audience.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

The artist was getting ready for an performance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had many commitments.

“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after years away and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have shown malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you roll down in a bed, but now I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened a few months back and my right breast now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”

The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”

Previous Struggles

The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Frequently they align with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has often paired with high points for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”

She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career starring in the London theater in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a long period.”

Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees