2010–present: Films and independent music
In 2010, he made a cameo appearance as Drake Parker in an iCarly episode entitled "iBloop" and a guest role in I Owe My Life to Corbin Bleu. He starred as Timmy Turner in the television film adaptation of its hit animated series The Fairly Odd Parents, A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner!, released in 2011 and reprised his role in the 2012 sequel A Fairly Odd Christmas. On May 18, 2011, a music video for Bell's song "You're Not Thinking" was released on YouTube. Bell's EP, titled A Reminder, was released on June 28, 2011. The lead single of A Reminder, "Terrific", was released on June 14, 2011, with the music video being released on December 9, 2012. The EP was produced by John Fields, who previously worked with Rooney, Jimmy Eat World, Selena Gomez, the Jonas Brothers, and Bleu. Bell decided to release the EP as a stopgap measure after a multi-year hiatus from the music scene, noting that a full-length studio album would not be released until the following year. Bell was sued by Fields, the producer of the EP, for 9 songs at 9,000 dollars each, totaling up to 81,000. Allegedly, Bell only paid for 5 songs for 45,000, but only 4 songs made it to the EP. The outcome of the lawsuit for breach of contract stays unreported.
In February 2012, Bell appeared in a Shane Dawson YouTube video entitled Kidnapping Drake Bell. Bell was cast as Spider-Man in the animated TV series Ultimate Spider-Man based on the comic book of the same name. He later reprised the role in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, replacing Josh Keaton who originally recorded his role for the series. He has also voiced the role of Spider-Man in two video games, Marvel Heroes, an MMORPG, and Disney Infinity 2.0, in 2013 and 2014, respectively. He was also in the 2012 Nickelodeon film Rags as Shawn. In 2013, Bell participated in an episode of the ABC reality TV series Splash, a celebrity diving competition, in which he made third place. On November 1, 2013, Bell released the studio version of his unreleased song "Nevermind" on YouTube. He released a holiday single, "Christmas Promise", on December 17, 2013. Throughout 2013 and 2014, Bell had roles in several animated films, such as The Naughty List, Adventure Planet, Birds of Paradise and Under Wraps. Bell returned as Timmy Turner in the third The Fairly OddParents live-action film, A Fairly Odd Summer, which was released on August 2, 2014. In 2014, Bell was nominated in the Capital Twitter Awards for Biggest Twitter Feud vs. Justin Bieber. Bell also appeared on Takepart Live to discuss his bankruptcy and other activities. Bell starred in an animated film entitled Frozen in Time, which was released November 11, 2014.
Bell had his third studio album set to be released in early 2013. Then, he stated it as "a complete concept record. Getting in a time machine and going back to the 40s and 50s." On April 22, 2014, Bell released his third studio album, his first rockabilly album, Ready Steady Go!, under Surfdog Records, with which he signed in 2012. It was produced by Peter Collins and childhood idol Brian Setzer, frontman of the rockabilly revival band Stray Cats. He has referred to the album as "getting in the DeLorian, hitting 88 miles per hour, and going back to the future." The album's lead single, "Bitchcraft", was released on January 28, 2014. The single was remixed by French electro swing band Caravan Palace. The album's promotional single, "I Won't Stand In Your Way", a cover of the Stray Cats' original song, was released on April 17, 2014. A cover of Cask Mouse's song "Bull", was released as the album's second single on October 8, 2014. The single was listed in the Mexican radio Top 10 for a number of weeks. The album was recorded completely live. It debuted and peaked at number 182 on the Billboard 200 and sold 2,000 copies in its first week of release. Bell took part in the High School Nation Tour in support of Ready Steady Go!, touring High Schools all around the U.S. The tour lasted from September 16 to October 22, 2014. It began in Los Angeles, California and ended in Charlotte, North Carolina. Bell also performed at Exa FM's Concerto Exa 2014 in Mexico City, performing to more than 50,000 people.
He starred with his Drake & Josh co-star Miranda Cosgrove in the animated film A Mouse Tale, which was released directly to DVD on February 10, 2015. Bell starred in the slasher film L.A. Slasher as The Popstar, which was released on June 26, 2015, in a limited theater release. Bell recorded a song for the film's soundtrack, titled "Day & Night". He also stars alongside Bella Thorne and Cameron Dallas in the United States dub of The Frog Kingdom, which was released on June 30, 2015, on video on demand and DVD. He appeared in a documentary about the genre of rockabilly and its culture titled It's a Rockabilly World! Bell later reprised his role as Spider-Man in the 2015 game Disney Infinity 3.0. He also guest starred in an episode with his Drake & Josh co-star Josh Peck on Peck's Fox television series Grandfathered; Bell guest stars as Kirk, a wealthy tech investor. The episode with Bell aired in the Spring of 2016. Bell is set to star as Dan Orange, lead singer of a band called "Orange and the Dead Ends" in a new digital series called Dan is Dead. The premiere date has not yet been set. Bell has recorded a song titled "We're Dead" for the series.
Bell embarked on a concert tour in Mexico starting on February 5, 2016, which ended on February 7, 2016. The tickets were sold out within minutes of going on sale online. Though Bell started the tour in 2015, the Ready Steady Go! Tour will continue in 2016. Bell toured high schools in the US as part of the High School Nation Tour from March 28 to April 29, 2016. Bell stars in the 2017 film Bad Kids of Crestview Academy, a sequel to the 2012 film Bad Kids Go to Hell. Bell released an EP titled Honest on June 30, 2017. In 2018 he released a Spanglish song, "Fuego Lento", and in 2019 released another EP, Smoke It Up.
On November 5, 2023, after his elimination on the fifth season of the Mexican television series ¿Quién es la máscara?, Bell was revealed to be Baby Alien. In 2024, Bell competed in season twelve of The Masked Singer as "Ice King" with Hanson (who competed in season five as "Russian Dolls") serving as his Mask Ambassador. He was eliminated on "Miley Cyrus Night".
In August 2024, Bell appeared on the fourteenth season of the Mexican reality singing competition La Academia. On the August 28 broadcast of the daily companion show La Academia: Camino a la Fama, he visited the contestants to hold a Q&A session regarding stage presence and navigating the music industry as an independent artist. During the appearance, he also performed his single "Te Desenamoraste".
On September 5, 2025, he released the single "Break Your Heart" with Colombian reggaeton singer Kevin Roldán. The collaboration originated when Bell personally reached out to Roldán, who grew up watching Bell on Drake & Josh, quickly agreed to the project. Filmed in Mexico City, the official music video. The track quickly became a significant success in the Latin market, eventually winning Song of the Year at the Tú Awards.
In February 2026, Bell collaborated with Grammy-winning songwriter and producer Toby Gad for a re-imagined release of the track "Nevermind (Piano Diaries)". The official music video was directed by Chris Applebaum, who previously directed Bell's "Going Away" video in 2023.
