Dalton Mauldin is quickly gaining attention from a huge amount of people with his new music during this pandemic. Thankfully, the pandemic has yet to stop (or slow) him down from creating and releasing music for his ever-growing audience.

This Nashville based singer songwriter is currently working on his music and his studies full-time at Tennessee’s Trevecca Nazarine University. Where he also is an athlete, just proving to our younger generation that you are fully capable of furthering your education, and having fun, while chasing your dreams.

With sports, athletics, and music, how in the world does one human balance all of that at once, while not lacking in other areas? Well, Dalton talked to us about his new music, balancing everything, and more.

PopWrapped (PW): You just recently put out your first official music video for “Closure” off of your debut EP, “gray.” Which has received an amazing response. “Run” pretty much follows that same “love” theme. When writing and working on new music – what is your initial thought process like? How do you know that’s the route you want to go?

Dalton Mauldin (DM): “I was in my apartment one day just kind of sitting there holding my guitar because I wanted to write a song, sitting in the corner of my bedroom reflecting about life (you know the usual), and this idea came into my head as I was thinking about past relationships I’ve been in. I wrote run describing a relationship I’ve been a part of that always seems to fail. Every time we’ve tried to fix things, we get back to where we started, the relationship starts to get back to normal, but then as soon as it actually gets good, the other person turns and runs away…

The song is written from a perspective of my thought process on what’s going on with the relationship. “Is there something I’m doing wrong? Why can’t we ever seem to make this work?” It’s similar to that hopeless romantic kind of mindset because in the song you hear it say “Is something going on with me, I promise that I’m worth it.” (Which is me just being like “come on!!  give it a chance” hahaha. 

PW: With that being said – let’s jump into “Run”. This track follows the release of your September EP. It being November, what made you decide to move on from your debut EP so soon? Additionally, when looking at the work you have ready to go, what was it about “Run” specifically that made you choose to go with it for your next release?

DM: I think the reason i moved on so quickly from the debut EP is because I’ve been working really hard on lots of new music. to me i feel like there’s no point of keeping songs you like in your phone where nobody can hear them. i feel like i move pretty fast so once my debut EP was out, i was ready for the next project to get rolling. As soon as we finished recording the “gray.” EP, i started working on the next project. one of the beautiful things about being an independent artist is that i can release whatever music i want, whenever i want.

I was really excited about “run” once we finished it and i knew i wanted to get it out ASAP! It was one of those songs that I wrote and i knew immediately that i wanted to get it produced and released. I showed the song to Parker & Jackson (the ones who produced the track) and they said this had to be the next single & i totally agreed, so we did it!

PW: Right now, you are a full time student aside from being a full-time musician. How do you find time to balance school and music? What is something that you do to make sure you’re focusing equally on both so that you can continue to perform at your best with each?

DM: Totally agree with you! not a whole lot of people are putting out music right now ya know. So i kinda want to take advantage of that & release some! However, you’re right, finding balance is TOUGH. School takes up a lot of time & effort, and so does being a college athlete with practices, games, and workouts. All in all, I’d say my time management skills are not the best but it’s something i work on everyday! I’ve always said that you make time for the things you care about the most & with all of those being a priority, i make sure that i dedicate the time to pursue them all wholeheartedly. It’s so easy to get caught up in everything, but a lot of the time i just have to remind myself to slow down and breathe & it all works out how it’s supposed to.

PW: Very well said. I think now we have so much time we don’t know always know how to take advantage of that time. You have a fairly large social media presence that you are always engaging with and trying to keep growing while making sure other areas aren’t lacking. For me, social media is a large distraction from work and schooling. As a student full time and working in music, myself, I tend to spend too much time on social media and not enough time in the books. School can be exhausting. How do you know when it’s time to put the school work down and hop on tiktok live for a bit? Or to finish “Run”, per se?

DM: it’s extremely tough for me to take my focus off of music, but i do value playing baseball and being a part of a school that looks out for me so I always just make sure to dedicate the time to get my school work done. I have always been big on taking my schooling seriously, and I’m so close to getting my masters degree so i always make sure my school work is prioritized! Time management is something I’m always going to have to work on but i do believe I’ve been getting better with it! I started writing down everything i need to do in a planner recently & it has made me become so much more productive!

PW: Seeing the feedback this early into the “run” release has been fantastic to see. Seeing this feedback. How does this reassure you that your music is being heard and appreciated? Additionally, you stated you have an EP in the works. When can your fans expect this EP and do you plan to release any further singles? What do you hope your fans can take from “run” and the upcoming EP?

DM: Seeing the feedback has been so amazing. I’m always so grateful to hear anything back from people listening. I was super excited about this release & I’m really happy with how it’s going! & yes i do have an EP in the works! We’re putting the finishing touches on it now! You can definitely expect another single & an EP following up with it very soon after!

Dalton Mauldin’s “run” is available on all major streaming platforms, now. You can also follow Dalton’s journey on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.