TThe Diary of a CEO
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02 May 2022

Jessie J: I Quit Music, Deleted An Album, Then Changed My Mind

3Frameworks
13Insights

Frameworks in this episode

Insights & moments

The myth-busts, hot takes, explainers, and tools worth keeping.

Story· 8

Story01:30

How Jessie J's Family Kept Illness From Defining Her Childhood

Jessie J recalls repeated childhood hospital stays but says her parents did not treat illness as her defining identity. She remembers their humour, improvised experiences, and attention to the feeling created with what they had more strongly than she remembers being unwell.

  • Her family created playful experiences without needing much money
  • She says her parents did not define her by illness
  • Her father's humour helped sadness and safety coexist
  • She remembers observing other patients more than her own pain

it's about the energy you create within what you have

Jessie J · 02:00

it never became a definitive of who i was

Jessie J · 02:30
#childhood#family#illness#humour
Story07:30

The Hospital Memory Behind Jessie J's First Song

Jessie J remembers hearing a frightened young patient pray during the night and learning the next morning that he had died. She says the memory stayed with her until, as a teenager, writing became the way she released what she had witnessed.

  • She recalls sharing a hospital room with a severely ill boy
  • His fear and death remained with her for years
  • Her mother tried to help her understand the loss
  • She says the experience eventually became the song Big White Room

it stayed with me that was the way i needed to let that feeling out

Jessie J · 09:00
#songwriting#hospital#grief#childhood
Story19:00

Jessie J on Seeking Answers for Severe Pelvic Pain

Jessie J says clinicians initially attributed severe pain and fainting episodes to IBS, but she continued seeking opinions and was later diagnosed with endometriosis and adenomyosis. She reports declining a recommended hysterectomy at 26 and says plant-based eating and a slower lifestyle helped her symptoms; these are her recollections and personal outcomes, not universal treatment advice.

  • She says she persisted because the initial IBS explanation did not fit her experience
  • She reports later diagnoses of endometriosis and adenomyosis
  • A clinician recommended removing her uterus, according to her account
  • She chose to explore other ways of managing pain
  • Her reported benefit from diet and pace changes should not be generalised medically

i know myself i know my body i know it's not ibs

Jessie J · 19:30

i'll look at other ways i can manage my pain

Jessie J · 20:30
#adenomyosis#endometriosis#diagnosis#personal-experience
Story21:30

When Fame Made Ordinary Life Feel Like a Performance

Jessie J describes 2014–2016 as her lowest period in the industry, when being watched and commented on made eating, travelling, and even filling her car with petrol feel difficult. She says constant scrutiny fed anxiety, self-consciousness, hotel-room isolation, and a short-lived attempt to become the hostile persona the press assigned her.

  • She felt watched and judged during routine activities
  • Comments introduced insecurities she says she had not previously noticed
  • She became comfortable onstage but distressed by ordinary public tasks
  • She sometimes stayed in hotel rooms to avoid exposure
  • For a brief period, she says she acted like the persona described by the press

it felt like i had to re-learn how to do life

Jessie J · 24:30

for a couple months i became what the press told me i was

Jessie J · 26:30
#fame#anxiety#media#identity
Story52:30

Jessie J Quit Music—Then One Studio Session Pulled Her Back

Emotionally exhausted after bereavements, a breakup, and years of nonstop work, Jessie J says she asked her label to drop her in 2016. During a paid makeup campaign, producer Camper played a track despite her reluctance; she began writing, and the resulting song Think About That became the first single from R.O.S.E.

  • She says she no longer knew what she wanted to sing about
  • She accepted a campaign partly because she still needed income
  • She initially requested a cover rather than an original song
  • Camper's track prompted her to write unexpectedly
  • The session reopened a part of her identity she had been trying to suppress

drop me don't want to do this anymore

Jessie J · 53:00

you can't stop writing songs like this is what you do

Jessie J quoting Camper · 55:00
#music#burnout#songwriting#career
Story1:09:00

The Loneliness Behind Jessie J's Post-Miscarriage Performance

Jessie J describes receiving two scans within hours, learning that the pregnancy no longer had a heartbeat, and then focusing on a scheduled show before fully processing the loss. She says posting publicly and performing were shaped by being alone and needing somewhere to fall apart, while the hardest moment came when she returned to an empty home.

  • She sought a second medical opinion after an initial scan raised serious concern
  • She says the second clinician found no heartbeat
  • A work question about the next day's show redirected her immediate attention
  • She posted without close family present to help her process privately
  • She describes the physical and emotional experience as intensely painful and different for each person
  • The deepest loneliness arrived after the audience and support had gone

i didn't have anyone to just fall apart on

Jessie J · 1:15:30

i've never felt so lonely in my life

Jessie J · 1:17:30
#miscarriage#loneliness#performance#grief
Story1:02:00

Jessie J Says Jamal Edwards's Real Legacy Was Personal

Jessie J remembers Jamal Edwards as someone who made time for people, helped others enter rooms, and restored her belief when praise for her singing no longer felt sufficient. She says his death strengthened her resolve to make career decisions that better reflect where she feels she belongs.

  • She met Edwards when she was 17
  • She recalls calling him when she wanted to leave music
  • She valued his personal attention more than a list of business achievements
  • She says his example influenced current career decisions
  • His absence made her confront the need to build self-belief within herself

he never said no he always had the time

Jessie J · 1:03:00

it was the feeling that he gave people to me that was his legacy

Jessie J · 1:05:00
#jamal-edwards#legacy#grief#self-belief
Story1:21:30

Why Losing Dave Meant Losing a Unique Sense of Safety

Jessie J describes Dave, her longtime security guard, as a big-brother figure who shared years of private routines, career highs, illness, travel, and jokes. She says grieving him felt unusually solitary because nobody else had lived that exact relationship, and she now sometimes imagines him beside her to feel safe at events.

  • Dave was often the first and last person she saw during touring days
  • He supported her through medical, personal, and career events
  • Their shared private memories made the loss difficult to communicate
  • She knew about his own struggles and wishes she could have protected him
  • She associates the safety he provided with something she is trying to develop internally

he was my guy like he was my big brother

Jessie J · 1:23:00

i just imagine him there and i feel safe and i feel calm

Jessie J · 1:30:30
#grief#safety#friendship#touring

Takeaway· 5

Takeaway09:30

Why Jessie J Interprets Health Setbacks as Grounding Signals

Jessie J recounts childhood heart-rhythm problems, a stroke at 17, later voice and hearing issues, and other health events. She personally interprets these interruptions as reminders to slow down and listen to her body; that meaning is her perspective, not evidence that illness occurs for a protective purpose.

  • She reports treatment for an irregular heartbeat during childhood
  • She says she lost feeling on one side of her body after a stroke at 17
  • Later health problems interrupted tours and planned releases
  • She frames those events as reminders that she is not superhuman
  • Her causal interpretation is personal rather than a medical conclusion

my health has always kept my feet on the ground

Jessie J · 07:00

you're not superhuman you could die

Jessie J · 12:00
#health#career#perspective#personal-experience
Takeaway31:30

Jessie J Lost Track of Who She Was Away From Work

Jessie J says the speed and styling of her career left her unsure how to dress casually, what she liked to eat, or what she enjoyed beyond singing and travel. After her third album, she stepped back for several years to rediscover a personal identity outside the Jessie J brand.

  • She sometimes dressed as her stage persona in ordinary family settings
  • Constant work made switching off feel unfamiliar
  • She struggled to name basic preferences and hobbies
  • She concluded that she needed time away from the career's pace
  • The break was about identity and processing, not simply inactivity

i didn't know who i was away from working

Jessie J · 32:00

what are my hobbies what do i like to do other than just sing and travel

Jessie J · 34:00
#identity#work#fame#rest
Takeaway17:00

Why Jessie J Stopped Rushing Toward a Silver Lining

After performing the day after learning of her miscarriage, Jessie J says she later regretted reacting first as a public brand that needed to appear okay. She allowed herself to feel grief without attaching an inspirational conclusion, while still believing that lighter periods could return.

  • She distinguishes performing from privately processing loss
  • Earlier grief from other deaths surfaced alongside the miscarriage
  • She stopped requiring every painful moment to end with a lesson
  • She says accelerating grief to reassure others would not be healthy for her
  • Her account describes her process, not a universal model or timeline for grief

i surrendered to my pain and for nobody else but myself

Jessie J · 18:00

not have a quote at the end of my moment

Jessie J · 18:30
#grief#miscarriage#vulnerability#healing
Takeaway1:35:00

Why Jessie J Now Protects More of Her Relationships

Jessie J says public attention can define a relationship before the people involved understand it themselves. After experiencing press narratives built from photographs and partial information, she decided that greater privacy could protect relationships from opinions and stories that add little but may still affect the people involved.

  • She deleted a book chapter on love to keep part of her life personal
  • Photographs can make an early or casual connection appear settled and official
  • She resents false narratives but recognises that rebutting them also increases exposure
  • A later non-famous partner made privacy feel especially important
  • She still acknowledges that public commentary can affect her despite efforts to ignore it

i need to keep something personal right and protected

Jessie J · 1:35:30

i hate that the press can control the narrative

Jessie J · 1:39:30
#privacy#relationships#media#boundaries
Takeaway1:42:30

Jessie J's Next Chapter Is Not a Solo Project

Looking ahead, Jessie J wants music she loves, a passionate team, a nurtured personal life, acting, comedy, a one-woman show, and another attempt at parenthood. Her clearest change from the previous year is accepting that personal and professional dreams can happen with people beside her and that independence does not remove the need for support.

  • She wants her career and personal life to receive comparable care
  • Her one-woman-show idea combines conversation, emotion, humour, and singing
  • She hopes to prepare her body to try for parenthood again
  • She now rejects the belief that needing help contradicts independence
  • She says she enjoys being a team player

giving my personal life as much nurturing as my career

Jessie J · 1:43:00

i don't have to do everything by myself

Jessie J · 1:45:00
#future#teamwork#music#parenthood