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You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. There she was gearing up for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have breast cancer.

The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with her usual frankness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while still secretly coping with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.

She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.

Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show soon. “I enjoy humor. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”

Personal Battles and News

The artist was preparing for an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, 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 nothing. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing 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 the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

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

She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. During crises you are wheeled, but this time I just walked with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal four months ago and my one side now looks like a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”

The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”

A History of Health Challenges

Cornish is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. Frequently they align with career highs, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”

She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning starring in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has entered the female band Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”

Oi, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees