Drake Bell opens up about how he turned his pain into music, years before coming out publicly as a sexual assault survivor.
After the singer/actor, 37, revealed for the first time that he was sexually abused by his former acting coach Brian Peck while working as a child actor on Nickelodeon, Bell shared that some of his music was written as a coping mechanism.
In a TikTok posted on Saturday, he revealed that his song “In the End,” from his 2005 debut album, Telegraphwas “about what happened.”
Clip the Drake and Josh alum posted a featured clip of himself listening to the first few lines of the song and a caption that says, “I wrote this song when I was 15 about what happened before I told anyone.”
The audio that plays includes the lines: “Wake up / It’s time to pack your things and drive away / Breathe out, the days ahead will treat you better / So they say / Another day without words / But it’s okay if the diversion [around].”
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“In the End” was co-written by Bell and Michael Corcoran, with whom he co-produced his debut. (Corcoran is known for composing music for television, including numerous Nickelodeon series such as Drake and Josh, iCarly and Victoriousamong other things, according to IMDb.)
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The pop-rock song starts out as a ballad, but later evokes an upbeat tone. Throughout the song, the “I Found a Way” singer repeats the refrain: “And in the end, are you stronger? (Are you stronger?) / Don’t you need to recover anymore? / And where have you been since it was over? (Because past) / Over my shoulder, under my skin, will you ever come back?”
He also sings compelling lyrics: “Wake up / The monsters in your head left you / On your own, it’s okay / If the ugly little things remind you of how you feel / Another day, no one tells you what it means / What’s on your way and poisons your dreams / The darkest place you’ve ever been.”
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The former child star revisited the 2005 song after speaking out about the abuse he suffered from dialogue coach Brian Peck over six months when he was 15. He first spoke candidly about the attack and Peck’s eventual conviction in 2004 in an Investigation Discovery new documentary series Silence on set: The dark side of children’s televisionwhich premiered on March 17.
Shortly after the trailer for Silence on the set was released and found Bell talking about his experience in a four-part series, he also released a single about dealing with his trauma.
Titled “I Kind of Relate,” the singer-songwriter shared the emotional song along with a music video featuring him on a television soundstage reminiscent of a set Drake and Josh. “Somehow I relate / I found beauty in my pain / I’m running / From the abuse and all the shame,” he sings on the new single.
In the caption for the music video on YouTube, the musician wrote: “This song was inspired by my past and now that my story has been told, I felt it was the right time to share it.”
Drake Bell in Hollywood in 2005.
Mathew Imaging/FilmMagic
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In a recent episode The Sarah Fraser Show podcast, Bell explained why he felt ready to tell his story Silence on the set. After being made “really comfortable” by one of the project’s leaders, Emma Schwartz, he ended up talking about how entering rehab forced him to deal with things he “hadn’t directly dealt with” in the past.
“When I walked out, I thought to myself, ‘You know, maybe this is a good time to go to them and say that I’m not 100% yet, let’s talk a little bit more, but I’m getting closer to feeling comfortable to finally share my story.’ , he said. “Even though I struggled with, ‘Oh my God, what am I doing telling my story? Should I be doing that?’ [But I was getting this feeling of] ‘Wow, it’s all out now. I can get it off my chest.'”
In 2004, in connection with Bell’s case, Peck pleaded no contest to a charge of oral intercourse with a minor under the age of 16, as well as a charge of performing a lewd act with a teenager. The The Amanda Show Alum’s victim’s identity was not released at the time because he was a minor. After his conviction, Peck spent 16 months in prison and was mandated to register as a sex offender.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the crisis line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education