DAYDREAMING • DYLON CROSS

Dylon Cross Steps Out With “Daydreaming” If WHYTE CHOC’LIT has already introduced you to Dylon Cross, his first solo single might introduce you to a side of him you weren’t expecting. Cross, the distinct voice who often finds himself out front in the five-man Kennesaw R&B group, is also stepping out as a solo artist with “Daydreaming,” a pop-country ballad being released through EFREM AICAPELLA MUSIC. And before anybody starts writing the breakup story, Dylon isn’t leaving WHYTE CHOC’LIT. His solo work will exist alongside his place in the group, giving him another outlet to explore music on his own. That becomes particularly interesting after talking with WHYTE CHOC’LIT about the music they grew up listening to. R&B and hip-hop may dominate the conversation, with country, rock and gospel also somewhere in the mix, but for Dylon, country runs a little deeper than something he simply grew up hearing. He describes himself as a country boy at heart, and a lot of that comes from the summers he spent on his grandparents’ ranch in the small South Georgia town of Willacoochee. And as it turns out, “Daydreaming” comes from those summers too. Dylon says that while spending time in Willacoochee, he ended up falling for a girl from one of the wealthiest families in town. He was the grandson spending his summers working and hanging around his grandparents’ small ranch, and in his mind, she came from an entirely different world. He liked her but never got the nerve to tell her how he felt, because there was always that question sitting in the back of his head: how in the hell was a guy like him ever supposed to get a girl like her? Years later, that experience became “Daydreaming.” The song takes Dylon back to that younger version of himself, caught between wanting to make something happen and wondering whether he ever really had a chance. What began as a summer crush in Willacoochee eventually gave him the setting, the emotion and the story for his first solo record. That personal connection also helps explain why a pop-country ballad makes sense as Dylon’s first move outside WHYTE CHOC’LIT. The ranch and small-town setting aren’t scenery he borrowed because he decided to make a country record. They belong to a part of his own life, just as his passion for R&B and hip-hop belongs to another. “Daydreaming” simply gives him the opportunity to bring that side of himself forward. With one record, Dylon has already given us a glimpse of just how much musical ground he may be willing to cover on his own. The country boy from those summers in Willacoochee has grown up, the girl he never got the nerve to talk to became a song, and the daydream eventually became his first solo record. Where Dylon Cross takes it from here is anybody’s guess, but that might be the most interesting part. Check out Dylon Cross’s “Daydreaming,” available now on all major streaming platforms.