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You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Then in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.

The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The record, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an transparent story, dealing with every moment of pain she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later next release, Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was thriving, while all the while dealing with her cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she received surgical treatment.

She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.

We’re at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and large glasses. Imagine motorcycle style meets vintage look. “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. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Jessie is fast-thinking, bold and direct. 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.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

She was getting ready for an appearance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.

“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a medical attire and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy recently and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The next operation is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”

Past Medical Issues

The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or blow, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”

She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career starring in the West End in the production (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has entered the trio the group while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”

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