Duffy is said to have signed with a new management company.
It was revealed last month that the Mercy singer would be returning to the spotlight to tell the harrowing story about the sex assault and kidnapping that forced her to retreat from public life in 2011 in a Disney+ documentary and she is now believed to have teamed up with a new manager from TaP Music - the same company that represents Lana Del Rey and Leigh-Anne Pinnock.
Duffy, 41, has also re-hired the same publicity company - MBC PR - that she worked with after soaring to fame with her award-winning 2008 album Rockferry in what some see as laying the foundations for releasing new material.
A music industry insider told The Sun newspaper's Bizarre column: "Duffy's made it clear in the past that she did not intend to make a return to music, but things change behind the scenes.
"The new Disney+ documentary seems to be the first step in a long list of things that are being planned for Duffy.
"She wouldn't be taking on new teams if she didn't intend to step back into music, so the whole industry is abuzz with what she is planning.
"By the sound of it, there could well be new music from her before the end of the year."
Duffy's disappearance from the spotlight was shrouded in mystery for almost a decade until she broke her silence with an Instagram post in 2020 detailing how she had been drugged, kidnapped and taken to another country where she was subjected to violent abuse and raped.
The Warwick Avenue artist will tell her story in-depth for the first time in the Disney+ documentary - which has promised "new, unprecedented access" to the Welsh star along with her friends, family and music industry contemporaries.
Gill Callan, the documentary's director, said: "Duffy's life has been shaped by success and fame, but equally by pain, defiance and an irrepressible sense of self.
"I'm drawn to the tension between vulnerability and confidence in her story and how a person can be deeply affected by their experiences, yet still find a powerful, expressive voice that is unmistakably hers."
