Following a five year hiatus, in a statement which Duffy posted to her website in February 2020, she opened the curtain for fans who had long since awaited her return. She detailed a harrowing experience in which she was “raped and drugged and held captive over some days”. Further explaining her absence, she told fans “The recovery took time” but “trust me I am OK and safe now”.

This is not the first time that Disney+ has forayed into documentaries. Featured on the subscription service, fans of all types of artists are able to see well made and produced retellings/behind the scenes introspectives of some of the world’s biggest stars. Musical documentaries on Disney+ include ‘The Beatles: Get Back’, ‘Music by John Williams’ and arguably most popularly the concert film of ‘Taylor Swift, The Era’s Tour (Taylor’s Version’). Fans of Duffy will hope that her documentary will handle the subject material respectfully and delicately while allowing for an honest and raw retelling of events in connection with Sean Doyle, Disney+ Vice President assurance that “This film will give Duffy the chance to tell her story in her own words.”

Born Aimée Anne Duffy, the Welsh singer signed with A&M records in November 2007. Duffy’s debut album ’Rockferry’ was released in March 2008 and subsequently became the UK’s best selling album of the year. It’s most popular single ‘Mercy’ paired with Duffy’s raw and soulful vocal propelled the album to a Grammy Award in 2009, three Brit awards as well as three MOJO award nominations. Her second album ‘Endlessly’ was released in November 2010. Over the years which followed, Duffy cancelled festival and tour performances before featuring in the 2015 crime thriller ‘Legend’ to which she provided three songs for the soundtrack. In the years that followed, Duffy vanished from the public eye for the aforementioned reasons.

Disney+ have not yet released a date for Duffy’s documentary but fans can expect a “really powerful project” according to Disney+’s head of content Angela Jain.

Taking to Instagram to share the remix with her fans, the singer posted a video of her mouthing the lyrics to the tune, captioning it “Some of you asked if Duffy was really doing a UK Garage Remix…”, she since then deleted the post, leaving her instagram with only one post. The 2008 hit spent five weeks atop the UK Chart and went on to become the third best-selling single of the year. Her debut album ‘Rockferry’ peaked at number 1, which featured songs ‘Mercy’ and ‘Warwick Avenue’ (the latter peaked at 3). Her 2010 LP ‘Endlessly’ peaked at number 9 too!

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A post shared by Duffy (@duffy)

Sharing with CNN, the Welsh artist recalled: “It was my birthday, I was drugged at a restaurant, I was drugged then for four weeks and travelled to a foreign country. I can’t remember getting on the plane and came round in the back of a travelling vehicle. I was put into a hotel room and the perpetrator returned and raped me. I remember the pain and trying to stay conscious in the room after it happened. I was stuck with him for another day, he didn’t look at me, I was to walk behind him, I was somewhat conscious and withdrawn. I could have been disposed of by him…”

“I do not know how I had the strength to endure those days, I did feel the presence of something that helped me stay alive. I flew back with him, I stayed calm and as normal as someone could in a situation like that, and when I got home, I sat, dazed, like a zombie. I knew my life was in immediate danger, he made veiled confessions of wanting to kill me. With what little strength I had, my instinct was to then run, to run and find somewhere to live that he could not find.”

“The perpetrator drugged me in my own home in the four weeks, I do not know if he raped me there during that time, I only remember coming round in the car in the foreign country and the escape that would happen by me fleeing in the days following that. I do not know why I was not drugged overseas; it leads me to think I was given a class A drug and he could not travel with it.”

“After it happened, someone I knew came to my house and saw me on my balcony staring into space, wrapped in a blanket. I cannot remember getting home. The person said I was yellow in colour and I was like a dead person. They were obviously frightened but did not want to interfere, they had never seen anything like it.”

Ultimately, the singer didn’t want to completely disappear and change everything about her life, having already lost so much. She stated she didn’t want to do a disservice to herself by hiding her story.

Welsh singer, Duffy has spoken out in an open letter to the chief of Netflix Reed Hastings regarding the film 365 Days. Duffy has accused Netflix of glamourising rape and sex trafficking by screening the hit Polish film.

In her letter she said: “It grieves me that Netflix provides a platform for such ‘cinema’, that eroticises kidnapping and distorts sexual violence and trafficking as a ‘sexy’ movie. I just can’t imagine how Netflix could overlook how careless, insensitive, and dangerous this is.” She added that the film “glamorises the brutal reality of sex trafficking, kidnapping and rape.”

She concluded the letter by providing resources and saying; “You have not realized how 365 Days has brought great hurt to those who have endured the pains and horrors that this film glamorises, for entertainment and for dollars. What I and others who know these injustices need is the exact opposite – a narrative of truth, hope, and to be given a voice.”

Duffy has previously spoken out about her own experiences in February of this year. She was allegedly kidnapped and brought to another country where she was allegedly held captive for multiple days and repeatedly drugged and raped. In a now deleted Instagram post, she explained her story and talked about the music she would be releasing about her experience. In the post, she said; “The recovery took time. There’s no light way to say it. But in the last decade, the thousands and thousands of days I committed to wanting to feel the sunshine in my heart again, the sun does now shine.”

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A post shared by @duffy on Jun 18, 2020 at 3:00am PDT

The film, which was adapted from a book by Blanka Lipińska, has become a Top 10 hit on Netflix. It follows the story of a woman who is kidnapped and is told by her captor that he will keep her captive for a full year, and in that time, she has to fall in love with him and she will have a life of luxury with him. It is classes as an “erotic romantic drama” being compared to the popular Fifty Shades of Grey series.

Netflix did not produce the film, but picked it up in June after it ran in cinemas around Europe earlier in the year. While they have not commented on Duffy’s letter, they have said that there are warnings on the film to warn viewers. A spokesperson for the streaming service has said; “We believe strongly in giving our members around the world more choice and control over their Netflix viewing experience.”

Duffy shared organisations that need recognition, especially as World Day Against Trafficking in Persons approaches on the 30th of July. They are as follows; catwinternational.org, hopeforjustice.org, polarisproject.org, antislavery.org, stopthetraffik.org, unseenuk.org, notforsalecampaign.org, ijm.org, a21.org and madeforthem.org.

Duffy releases new song 'River in the Sky' after opening up about kidnapping trauma https://t.co/sU5A3HjKpt

— The Independent (@Independent) June 18, 2020

Launching the new track today (June 18th) in a post on her official Instagram profile, @duffy, the song is in fact the only one on her page so far – yet her fan following is unquestionably strong. Having accrued 198,000 followers since launching the account, it has been a strong foundation stone for the latest release.

The song’s lyrics are especially haunted, performed in solo voice and backed by piano, as she recounts being “afraid of the dark” as she is visited by a force which “covers me so patiently as I learn to deal with the pain.” The pain of her trauma which she is describing has only recently been made known to a public audience.

In the above cited Guardian article, the 35-year-old behind the hit “Mercy” explained to her followers in February, via a since deleted Instagram post, how she “was raped and drugged and held captive over some days … The recovery took time. There’s no light way to say it. But in the last decade, the thousands and thousands of days I committed to wanting to feel the sunshine in my heart again, the sun does now shine.”

Released under the caption, “For the better days to come / Duffy,” many of the comments have been overwhelmingly positive, with listeners sharing their praise for the fresh lyrics with statements such as, “Beautiful as always, thank you for sharing,” “Wow… stunning. You have the most amazing voice,” and “you are so missed.”

It appears that last summer, Duffy opened up about the trauma to a journalist who’d tracked her down. Best known for her international hits ‘Mercy’ and ‘Warwick Avenue’ over ten years, the vocalist subsequently revealed in the post that she had been “raped and drugged and held captive over some days”.

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You can only imagine the amount of times I thought about writing this. The way I would write it, how I would feel thereafter. Well, not entirely sure why now is the right time, and what it is that feels exciting and liberating for me to talk. I cannot explain it. Many of you wonder what happened to me, where did I disappear to and why. A journalist contacted me, he found a way to reach me and I told him everything this past summer. He was kind and it felt so amazing to finally speak. The truth is, and please trust me I am ok and safe now, I was raped and drugged and held captive over some days. Of course I survived. The recovery took time. There’s no light way to say it. But I can tell you in the last decade, the thousands and thousands of days I committed to wanting to feel the sunshine in my heart again, the sun does now shine. You wonder why I did not choose to use my voice to express my pain? I did not want to show the world the sadness in my eyes. I asked myself, how can I sing from the heart if it is broken? And slowly it unbroke. In the following weeks I will be posting a spoken interview. If you have any questions I would like to answer them, in the spoken interview, if I can. I have a sacred love and sincere appreciation for your kindness over the years. You have been friends. I want to thank you for that x Duffy Please respect this is a gentle move for me to make, for myself, and I do not want any intrusion to my family. Please support me to make this a positive experience.

A post shared by @ duffy on Feb 25, 2020 at 10:12am PST

As a result of this horrific experience, her recovery “took time”. Duffy further said: “Many of you wonder what happened to me, where did I disappear to and why,”

“A journalist contacted me, he found a way to reach me and I told him everything this past summer. He was kind and it felt so amazing to finally speak.”

She added: “The truth is, and please trust me I am ok and safe now, I was raped and drugged and held captive over some days. Of course I survived. The recovery took time. There’s no light way to say it.”

Duffy opened up about her hopes for a “spoken interview” within the next few weeks, in a bid to answer questions from her fan community.

“If you have any questions I would like to answer them, in the spoken interview, if I can. I have a sacred love and sincere appreciation for your kindness over the years.”

Duffy signed off the post asking for support from her fans to “make this a positive experience.”

In 2008, Duffy’s debut album, ‘Rockferry’, became the biggest selling album of the year in the UK. It further won Best British Album at the 2009 Brit Awards, as well as a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 51st Grammy Awards. She beat nominees Sheryl Crow, Eagles, Leona Lewis and James Taylor to the award.

The Welsh singer has fueled speculation regarding her return to music. The “Mercy” hitmaker took to her social media accounts by posting an image with a simple caption “#2020″. The update has become the first post on her Facebook page since 2007, while it is the only post on her verified Instagram account.

ดูโพสต์นี้บน Instagram

#2020

โพสต์ที่แชร์โดย @ duffy เมื่อ ธ.ค. 17, 2019 เวลา 9:17am PST

If the comeback comes true, Duffy’s return to music will be her first musical work in ten years after Endlessly, her sophomore album released back in 2010. The album was commercially disastrous, charted at number 9 on UK Albums Chart with “Well, Well, Well” becoming the sole single which peaked at number 41 on UK Singles Chart.

Meanwhile, the 35-year-old singer is better known for Rockferry, the debut album that became phenomenally successful both commercially and critically. The album hit the summit on UK Album Chart back in March 2008, spawning hits like “Mercy” which peaked at number 1 and “Warwick Avenue” at number 3. Furthermore, Rockferry won Best Pop Vocal Album from Grammy Awards in 2009 and, in the same year, British Album of the Year from BRIT Awards where the singer herself took British Breakthrough Act and British Female Solo Artist prizes back home.

While Duffy has been taking a hiatus from music, she did embark on an acting role. She landed a role in 2015’s crime film Legend to which she also contributed several songs such as “Whole Lot of Love“.