Lauren Mayberry: My decade of internet rape and death threats

Initially Mayberry said Chrvches were not so well known that they could afford to hire security, even when she was receiving “specific” death threats about venues and timings.

She added: “Something like that was very scary and people saying to you ‘oh it’s just the internet, it’s probably not going to happen’ doesn’t really make you feel better when you have to go on stage.

“I definitely did a lot of panic crying before gigs and then I think I do remember us specifically getting to the end of that tour and it was the first time in the band that I was like, ‘I’m gonna take two weeks off and I’m not going on my emails’ – and I’m never not on my emails.

“I took two weeks off and went to a little remote location and cried a lot in baths.”

Mayberry shared her experience alongside a number of artists – including Self Esteem and Craig Charles – in a special interview with BBC Radio 6 Music, as part of the Change the Tune initiative.

DJ Jamz Supernova told the programme of the racist abuse she had experienced including being called a “token” or “diversity hire”.

And composer Nitin Sawney said comments made about him online had triggered memories of violence and racism in his childhood.

The full programme will be broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music on Monday at 23:00.

Mayberry, on the cusp of launching a solo career for the first time, has also made an iPlayer film, about her experiences of online abuse and misogyny in the music industry.

Social media, she said, was baked into how Chvrches were discovered but it also had consequences she would never have anticipated.

She added: “We know a lot more now in terms of the impact that can have on people but I’m not sure how we change that behaviour, or the conversation around it.”