JESSIE J has given fans an update on her health days after returning to the stage following her cancer battle.
The pop star, 37, had a mastectomy earlier this year after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
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At the weekend she returned to the stage in her home county of Essex for a stunning performance at Radio 2 in the Park.
She then made an appearance on Capital Xtra, revealing her fifth album has been mixed four years later than planned.
She said: “I’m honestly good, guys. I feel like I’ve been through a lot healthwise in my life. This is one of the first things I’ve gone through publicly that other people have gone through. It’s been an opportunity to show people how I deal with things like this.”
Jessie continued: “It’s a personal journey. Everyone’s body’s going to do it differently. Recovery’s been difficult, especially having Sky. His dad’s been away working and that’s been tough because I’m not supposed to pick him up.”
Rather than take a backwards step, Jessie said she was keen to jump back into music and keep it flowing.
Teasing what fans can expect for her fifth release, she said the genres are all over the place, from heavy R&B and acoustic to big pop songs.
“It’s been a long time coming,” she said. “It was supposed to come out in ’21 and it didn’t happen.
“I got the final mix this morning, finally I can breathe. It feels like a journey of the last five years”
She said the theme was grief to joy.
The Price Tag singer revealed in June that she was battling breast cancer and had undergone surgery.
Jessie recently told fans that she is set to have second operation next month.
Ahead of the procedure, she returned to the stage on Saturday in Chelmsford on the same bill as headliner Bryan Adams.
When she stepped out on stage she received a huge applause from the crowd.
Jessie told festival-goers: “Some of you may know, some of you may not know, but I had breast cancer surgery 11 weeks ago today.
“And the last show I did, I had no idea what was gonna happen, and I’m still very much in the recovery process, but I’m definitely not ready for Babins.
“I mean, I am, but my doctors are like ‘calm down, girl’. Do you know what I mean, you can take the girl out of Essex, put her back in to Essex.
“But I’m just so grateful to be here, you have no idea how grateful I am to see so many of you singing along after all these years.
“It truly feels like I’m a little kid. Still doing what I love.”
She then surprised fans by bringing out her two-year-old son Sky to the stage to join her.
Jessie said: “And another special thing that’s happening today is that my son is seeing me sing on stage for the first time.”
The songstress belted out her brand new track titled Living My Best Life, saying it has a special meaning.
She said: “Some of you may know it, some of you may not know it, but what this song’s about, I was diagnosed literally two weeks before this song was released, and everyone said, “let’s stop, let’s just put everything on hold” and I said, “that’s not what life’s about”.’
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She went on to say: “Life is about standing in the storm but holding up your umbrella and just keep moving forward.
“And music, I don’t know about you guys, but for me, music is a healer.
“Music is the thing that keeps me wanting to wake up in the morning and just makes me excited about life.
“And I’m grateful that I can make music that can give other people something that they might need on a hard day or a good day.
“So this song is called Living My Best Life, and that is what I’m doing every single damn day.
“Cause we never know when our last day will be, so soak this up, hug the people you love hard.”
Last week, Jessie said her upcoming procedure would be “nothing too serious” but “has to be done by the end of the year”.
With the surgery booked for October, Jessie has had to cancel her US tour and rearranged her UK run.
She told fans: “I’m so sorry, I feel frustrated and sad.
“But I need to be better, I need to be healed and this is the right decision to make.”
