Drake Bell Talks Performing Again After ‘Traumatic’ Nickelodeon Days (Exclusive)

Warning: This article contains spoilers from the Nov. 20 episode of The Masked Singer.

Ice King came in like a wrecking ball on The Masked Singer‘s Miley Cyrus Night, but it didn’t end up being a party in the USA for him.

Drake Bell unmasked as Ice King on the Nov. 20 episode after going up against Royal Knight, Sherlock Hound and Strawberry Shortcake.

“I’m very competitive, but for this, you can’t really be that hard on yourself because you’re taken so out of your element,” Bell, 38, tells PEOPLE. “You’re singing songs you’ve never sang before, you’re in this costume, I’m not a dancer, so you can’t really beat yourself.”

The former child actor, who released his latest album Non-Stop Flight last month, participated in Mexico’s edition of The Masked Singer as Baby Alien and he hoped to go further on the American version. “Unfortunately, I got to the same exact point,” he says.

In a conversation with PEOPLE, Bell reflects on the surprising comfort of the Ice King costume, moving forward following the abuse he endured during his Nickelodeon days and the unexpected moment that resulted from being eliminated on Miley Cyrus Night.

What made you want to go on The Masked Singer‘s US version after competing on the show in Mexico?

DRAKE BELL: I had a blast doing The Masked Singer Mexico, so when the American version came out I was like, “Oh yeah, absolutely. I would love to do this again and try and get a little further.”

Did doing The Masked Singer Mexico means you were accustomed to performing inside the costume this time around?

It did give me a little leg up of being prepared to sing in the costume. My costume was great in Mexico, but the American costume, even though it looks like it’s so cumbersome and hard to move, when I put the mask on, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s so light and I can move around. ‘ The costume designers are absolute geniuses on this version, so I think it looks a little bit more difficult to move around in the costumes than it really is.

Who in your life knew you were doing the show?

My team, management and stuff. Maybe my mom and dad, but the thing about telling Mom and Dad is they get so excited, and then all of a sudden you go on their Facebook and you’re like, “Mom!” So I actually don’t think I told my mom and dad because of that reason.

But my dad is a huge fan of the show, even before I did The Masked Singer in Mexico. My dad’s not the kind of person you think would be a fan of a singing competition show, especially as fun as and different as The Masked Singerbut I would get these text messages from him out of nowhere, “I had no idea, But Wayne Brady was the…” and I’m like, “Oh, on the The Masked Singer“Because he just named the character as if I was watching the show along with him. I’m just imagining my big tough dad sitting at home and watching this funny singing competition. But he’s watched, I think, every season from the beginning He’s a huge fan.

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What do you enjoy about performing anonymously?

You’re not self-conscious. If I didn’t have the mask on and I’m singing these songs that I learned last night and choreography I learned yesterday, I would be like, “Am I doing this right? I don’t know.” But to put the mask on, you lose yourself in the character. You get to go, “I’m just going to go out and have fun.” It’s a really freeing experience.

Were there any songs that you would’ve liked to sing had you continued in the competition?

Yo I would’ve loved to do things more in my wheelhouse. Elvis, for example, would’ve been a great one to do. The Ice King doing a song by The King would’ve been really cool.

There was a clue in the Nov. 20 episode where you spoke about a story you shared with the press that changed your career. What was that?

There was a documentary that had come out earlier this year, and it was the first time that I’d shared some really personal and traumatic experiences and some unfortunate events that I had hardened in my past as a young actor. But being able to work through those things and come out on the other side and still be able to get up and perform — I’m on tour right now — is a great experience.

I think a lot of viewers will find that inspiring.

It’s a roller coaster. I don’t want anybody to take away like, “Oh, it’s so easy. Just get back up and dust yourself off and you’ll be fine.” It’ll always be in your past. It’s something that stays with you for the rest of your life. You just need to keep the right people around you, stay focused and do whatever you can in your power to get the tools you really need to make it through those difficult times.

Miley Cyrus was also a child star who transitioned to a music career as an adult. Did you find it ironic to go out after singing one of her songs?

It was really amazing. I got kicked off on Miley Cyrus night, the next morning I had lunch at my hotel and I was sitting next to some guy and we struck up a conversation. He goes, “Oh, I work over at a Sunset Sound across the street. You should come over.” It’s an iconic studio. Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Prince, everyone’s recorded there.

When I got there, he goes, “Miley sang right here because she wanted to sing Janis Joplin. She fell in love with the studio and she ended up recording her whole album here. She wrote ‘Flowers’ here.”

I ended up recording two of my songs off my new album and writing one of them there. It was so surreal because if I hadn’t gotten kicked off, I wouldn’t have had this serendipitous experience of recording in the same room as John Lennon and Harry Nilsson and Brian Wilson. I was like, “Wow, this is really crazy.” The universe and God works in mysterious ways.

Music is your focus now, but what do you get recognized for most these days?

Drake & Josh. It’s such an iconic show. It’s taken on a whole life of its own. I get recognized now more than even when we were airing or when the show was popular, and by young people who weren’t even alive when the show was airing.

I played a concert not too long ago in Florida, and there was this little kid up at the front row singing all the lyrics to all my songs. I said, “Bring him backstage. I got to meet this kid.” Him and his family came backstage and he took his hat off and he moved his hair. He’s like, “Look, I have my hair like you on the show,” and then he started quoting the show and everything. I’m like, “You weren’t even alive when we finished the show. When we got canceled, you weren’t even around.” His mom’s like, “Nope. He watches that show every day and he knows all your songs.” It’s a whole new generation.

Where can fans find you after The Masked Singer?

I just put out an album called Non-Stop Flightand it’s a huge album. It’s 25 songs, 36 tracks. It took me four years to complete. I’ve just been writing and writing — this roller coaster ride I’ve been on, it inspired so many songs. Now I’m on tour touring it and doing great. We’re having awesome, sold-out shows, and it’s the biggest production that I’ve ever done on tour. It’s a blast. I’m having a great time.

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The Masked Singer airs Wednesdays at 8 pm ET on Fox.