#Duffy shares new song ‘for the better days to come’ after surviving rape trauma

The “Mercy” singer, who had largely disappeared from the public eye since her 2008 hit, has released a new song after revealing her traumatic experience being raped, drugged and held against her will.

In February, the 35-year-old Welsh native posted an Instagram detailing her dark ordeal. “Many of you wonder what happened to me, where did I disappear to and why,” she wrote. “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.”

Duffy later wrote in an essay detailing the ordeal that she has reported the incident to the police, but “the identity of the rapist should be only handled by the police, and that is between me and them.”

Since the incident, she says she’s beginning to feel like herself again.

“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,” she said.

Her new song addresses her journey to the light. “For the better days to come,” she wrote on Instagram Thursday morning.

“I am alone, afraid of the dark . . . my only friend can’t comprehend why she visits me time and again,” she sings in the piano-backed ballad. “Like a river in the sky, why oh why do we cry?”

Fans were pleased to see the artist releasing music again. “This is so beautiful,” one commenter wrote. “Keep strong,” wrote another.

In March, Duffy, whose first name is Aimee, sent a song called “Something Beautiful” to an English radio DJ to play. “It’s just something for you to play people on radio during these troubling times, if you like the song of course. If it lifts spirits,” she said, hoping to spread positivity during the coronavirus pandemic.

The singer’s most recent album, “Endlessly,” was released in 2010.

In April, Duffy revealed more details about her harrowing experience. “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 traveling vehicle,” she explained in her essay.

She was assaulted in a hotel room, and said that her rapist made “veiled confessions of wanting to kill me.” She was able to escape by “fleeing,” though she doesn’t remember how she got home.

Duffy said she was at high risk for suicide and spent 10 years mostly alone. However, working with a psychologist helped her heal.

“As dark as my story is, I do speak from my heart, for my life, and for the life of others, whom have suffered the same,” she said.

If you have been sexually assaulted, contact the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network at RAINN.org or call their 24/7 free hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673).