Drake Bell Opens Up About Message Behind Song 'I Kind Of Relate'

Songwriting serves a powerful purpose for Drake Bell.

“Music is really everything to me,” the musician told Access Hollywood’s Kit Hoover during their exclusive sit-down interview.

“I don’t journal or have a diary or anything, but that’s how I’ve been able to get my thoughts out when something affects me in life, or I have events going on or experiences. I tend to get them out through song – that’s like my journaling,” he shared.

Drake’s interview comes two months after he revealed in the docuseries “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” that he was a victim of sexual abuse during his time as a child actor.

He tells Access that his latest song, “I Kind Of Relate,” was inspired by a realization he had while processing this part of his past.

“Dealing with this type of subject matter and going through therapy and working through all of this, I found myself in a lot of group settings,” he shared. “I always felt alone in it. I always felt, ‘How do I tell my story? No one’s going to understand. I’m going to be judged. No one gets what I’m going through.'”

However, those feelings of loneliness evolved the more he was part of those groups.

“In these group settings, I was able to hear other stories and other people’s similar experiences, and it really gave me strength and let me know I’m not alone, and that other people relate,” he said. “As I was sitting down and writing this song, that was the first lyric that came to my head. I was just sitting there, and I’m like, ‘I kind of relate / I found beauty in my pain.'”

“I would go through the thoughts of, ‘Is this going to destroy me? I can’t let it destroy me. But is this going to break me?’ And turning that on its head and saying, ‘Let’s use this as a strength. Let’s use this as a superpower,'” Drake continued.

“If you have experiences like this, I kind of relate with you, and I can empathize and I can understand, and I was able to find beauty in the pain,” he added.