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You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. There she was preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was told she had breast cancer.

The singer-songwriter, birth name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later next release, Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in early July she had a mastectomy.

She offers me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.

We meet at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Jessie is quick, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I like entertaining. On stage I basically roast the fans.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

She was preparing for an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had many commitments.

“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am

She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but this time I just strolled down with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! 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 ideal. My plans were disrupted.”

Previous Struggles

The singer is no stranger to illness. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to physical challenges. They have often coincided with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside high points for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”

She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career performing in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band the group while attending the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a long period.”

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