Do you know how 'Outer Banks' star Madison Bailey found her voice

Times of discover News: You may know Madison Bailey as the free-spirited Kira on Outer Banks, but the 25-year-old actress has other skills you may not have seen on screen yet. Growing up, her true passion was making and writing music. But then she "moved into acting" as a teen, landing a recurring role on the DC superhero drama Black Lightning, then reaching the pinnacle of fame with a lead role in the hit Netflix series Outer Banks, whose fourth season premiered Oct. 10.

Her film Time Cut will also be released Jan. 30. Now, five years after her Outer Banks debut, Bailey has returned to her first love, sharing her voice with the world. She released her debut single, "The Grey," last month, a song she says is about "being your true self and living life as freely as possible without the limitations of the world."

Below, Bailey opens up about stepping into the spotlight after Outer Banks became a hit, why it's important to him to be "unashamedly me and unabashedly gay," and what he wants to do in the future of music and acting Where do you want to take your passion? After attending my first acting class I realized that this could be something I could love forever. When you're 15 and you're a teenager, at that age I love everything. And I remember there was a class of eight people in this room and they were doing an airplane scene.

So they just sit in this room and pretend to be on an airplane. And I thought, this is a little crazy, but there's not a single person here who's shy. I was quite embarrassed by that. And I think, if I can be even half as comfortable as these people, then for me that's what I think I'm drawn to.

It was like a group of people shamelessly expressing themselves. How did your previous acting projects, such as playing Wendy Hernandez in the DC superhero drama Black Lightning, prepare you for the success and time commitment of Outer Banks?

I don't think anything could have prepared me for overseeing Outer Banks. Now, Outer Banks was half of my acting career, which is pretty crazy. I've been on this show for five years. Nothing could have prepared me for the craziness. I think a lot of people in the acting field will tell you that the best experience and the best preparation is just doing it and just being there. And this was my first time as a series regular cast member, so it was my first time doing it and really making a family of the cast and crew.

It's been incredible. For me, it's about reliving the dream that I had in my mind before I started acting. Honestly, music is the passion that drove me growing up. I see myself as a storyteller and throughout my life, music has been the medium through which I want to tell my story and get opportunities to do projects and in between all the craziness, making music is a dream come true, let alone sharing it with the world, which is crazy and I'm not sure I'll be able to do that.

I think this first single represents well the rest of my music and what my message is as an artist, which is to be true to yourself and live life as freely as possible without the constraints of the world. And I think "The Grey" represents that perfectly. The whole message is about living in a gray area and accepting it and not only being in the middle, but if you're in the middle, you're free.

Until you take me, honestly. It's like a wind signal response (laughs). I'm like, wherever the wind takes me. But I really believe in timing and this is the right time for it. And I'll keep making music as long as I can. It's so new and I'm still learning so much. I'm in my SpongeBob era and can't wait to grow up with it. If you asked me 10 years ago how long I would have behaved like this I wouldn't have been able to answer, and vice versa. I don't know if I have an answer to that, but hopefully a very long time.

The biggest thing I overcame was self-doubt, like realizing there was someone else who was better than you, there was someone else who knew something and fought for it. And getting the recognition through Outer Banks, another project I've done, really amplified that. Once you get off track, it's like your worst enemy.