Beloved Noughties star 'is secretly working on a return to music after quitting the spotlight following horror kidnap ordeal'
The singer, 40, who surprised fans by appearing in a TikTok video in March, has reportedly reunited with ex-Suede musician Bernard Butler, who was the producer of her debut album in 2008.
A source told The Sun On Sunday: 'The time is right for her to make a comeback, she has done enough healing and is ready to make music.
'She has a great working relationship with Bernard and they trust each other.'
MailOnline has contacted a representative for Duffy for comment.
In March, Duffy was seen for the first time in 10 years, when she appeared in a TikTok lip-syncing to her hit track Mercy.
The Welsh native left the spotlight after she was raped and kidnapped in a harrowing ordeal, which she first revealed publicly in February 2020.
She explained she had been raped, drugged and held captive 'over a period of days' following her rise from unknown talent show hopeful to Grammy Award-winning superstar in 2008.
In the video, Duffy, whose real name is Aimée Anne Duffy, sang along to her famous lyrics: 'You got me begging you for mercy, why won't you release me.'
She was sporting her recognisable light blonde hair in the clip posted on Emotion HQ's TikTok account, which teased that the garage remix will be released soon.
The caption read: 'Some of you asked if Duffy was really doing a UK Garage remix with us… #duffy #newmusic #ElectronicMusic #ukgarage #dancemusic #remix,' the video's caption read.
Taking to the comments, fans gushed over her return, writing: 'Duffy! Where have you been?! We missed you.' Another echoed: 'OMG it's so good that she's back.'
Someone else added: 'It's so great to see Duffy back. What a tremendous singer she has always been.'
While another added: 'Actually love Duffy so much. One of my first live concerts was watching her at the Apollo in Manchester and I had the album on repeat for months.'
Duffy has yet to post anything on her own Instagram account, which only has one post. The picture, posted back in June 2020, shows her wearing a black dress while perched on a doorstep. The comments on the post are turned off.
This is the first sign of Duffy that her fans have had for a year, after she returned to social media in March 2024 for the first time since 2020, to share an inspirational message to her fans.
Duffy had remained quiet on her socials until the post, when she shared an emotional video about the secret to happiness.
The clip features different animated art styles set to poignant music, while a man's voice quotes Bianca Sparacino's healing novel The Strength In Our Scars.
The quote reads: 'You're going to realise it one day - that happiness was never about your job or your degree or being in a relationship.
'Happiness was never about following in the footsteps of all of those who came before you; it was never about being like the others.
'One day, you're going to see it - that happiness was always about the discovery, the hope, the listening to your heart and following it wherever it chose to go.
'Happiness was always about being kinder to yourself; it was always about embracing the person you were becoming.
'One day, you will understand that happiness was always about learning how to live with yourself, that your happiness was never in the hands of others.
'One day you will realise that true happiness comes from within and no external factors can define it. It was always about you. It was always about you.'
Captioning the moving video, Duffy addressed her followers for the first time in years, writing: 'A little something to motivate the heart on a Monday.
'Hope you are all doing well. Lots of love, Duffy.'
She last posted in June 2020, sharing a black and white photo of herself set to her last released song, River in the Sky.
Set to piano, the songwriter sings of being 'afraid of the dark', and of a presence who visits her in the night and 'covers me so patiently as I learn to deal with the pain'.
Duffy got her breakthrough in 2007 with her single Rockferry and the following year released megahit Mercy, which catapulted her to fame.
Her debut album, with hits like Warwick Avenue and Rain on Your Parade, sold a whopping nine million copies and won Duffy three BRIT Awards and a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album.
After her second album, Endlessly, Duffy took a break from music in 2011 and took on various acting roles.
Then in 2020, she revealed her terrifying kidnapping and rape ordeal for the first time, detailing how during a four week period she was drugged at a restaurant where she was celebrating her birthday, before being abducted, taken abroad and raped, and then flown home where she was held captive in her own home.
The star explained how, in the immediate aftermath, she was too terrified to go to the authorities, for fear of her attacker locating her.
Duffy revealed that the incident not only pulled her away from her career, but left her estranged from her family and loved ones as she struggled to cope.
In the end, it took for the singer to move a total of five times before she started to feel as though she'd regained some semblance of safety.
She reported the incident to the police twice after someone threatened to sell her story for blackmail, and a second after three men broke into her home.
Duffy said: 'In the aftermath I would not see someone, a physical soul, for sometimes weeks and weeks and weeks at a time, remaining alone.
'I would take off my pyjamas and throw them in the fire and put on another set. My hair would get so knotted from not brushing it, as I grieved, I cut it all off.'
Explaining her reasons for sharing her harrowing story, she said: 'I am sharing this because we are living in a hurting world and I am no longer ashamed that something deeply hurt me, anymore.
'I believe that if you speak from the heart within you, the heart within others will answer. 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.
'I have no shame in telling you either I had spent almost ten years completely alone and it still burns my heart to write it.
'I owe it to myself to say it, I feel obliged to explain how challenging recovering truly was and to finally disclose it. I hope it comforts you to feel less ashamed if you feel alone.'
While the star insisted that she will now 'return to quietness' after stepping forward to share the details of her traumatic experience, she said at the time she hadn't ruled out the possibility of returning to music at some point in the future.
However, her main goal was gaining closure, at least to some degree, on her decade-long anguish.
'I can now leave this decade behind. Where the past belongs. Hopefully no more "what happened to Duffy questions", now you know … and I am free,' she concluded.
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