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You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The singer-songwriter, actual name Jess Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an transparent story, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time dealing with the disease. A month later she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.

She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.

We’re at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and oversized specs. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her initial standup show in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the crowd.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

Cornish was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.

“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but this time I just walked with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”

The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”

A History of Health Challenges

The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with high points for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”

She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut starring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”

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