Emma Garland

When her debut album, Fake It Flowers, was released just before the UK went into lockdown, Beabadoobee became a bedroom indie star who would have to remain in the bedroom. Now, with a fanatical following and an expansive second album dropping in July, the musician is at the top of her game – and out in the world.

“My old man lives in England so he’d get out of lockdown and be able to go get a haircut or go to the pub, and we’d be here, unable to do bugger all besides go to work and go home.” With more Covid deaths per capita than anywhere else in the UK, youth in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, have been through a lot. THE FACE discovers how they tried – and struggled – to recover.