‘River in the Sky’: Duffy shares new song after opening up about kidnapping trauma

Warning: some readers may find details of this article upsetting

Duffy has shared her second new song since opening up about her harrowing experience of being drugged, kidnapped and raped.

As she posted the track, entitled “River in the Sky”, on Instagram, the Welsh singer-songwriter wrote that it was “for the better days to come”.

“Why, why do we cry?” sings Duffy in the song’s chorus, her voice underscored by a mournful piano accompaniment.

In one of the verses, she sings: “I pray to fly, burdenfree // She covers me so faithfully // As I learned to deal with the pain.”

Duffy, whose full name is Aimee Anne Duffy, debuted a song called “Something Beautiful” on BBC Radio 2 in March. Except for a three-song contribution to the Legend film soundtrack in 2015, she hadn’t released any new music since her second studio album Endlessly in 2010.

The artist wrote about her disappearance from the music industry in a lengthy post in February on her website duffywords.com, in which she gave an account of being drugged at a restaurant, raped and held captive.

“It troubles me that this story contains sorrow, when so many need the opposite of that at this time,” she wrote. “I can only hope that my words serve as a momentary distraction or maybe even some comfort that one can come out of darkness.

“I thought the public disclosure of my story would utterly destroy my life, emotionally, while hiding my story was destroying my life so much more.”

If you have been raped or sexually assaulted, you can contact your nearest Rape Crisis organisation for specialist, independent and confidential support: www.rapecrisis.org.uk.