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You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. There she was readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.

The singer-songwriter, birth name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, addressing every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while dealing with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.

She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.

Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and large glasses. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the film. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Jessie is quick, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. When performing I frequently joke about the audience.”

Personal Battles and News

Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “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 was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had so much on.

“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy recently and my right breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”

The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”

Previous Struggles

Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”

She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut featuring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio the group while studying at the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”

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