"If it’s meant to happen, it’s meant to happen."

It’s been two weeks since American Idol took its final bow, and season 15 alum Dalton Rapattoni is just getting revved up.

With plans already in motion for his post-Idol solo record, Rapattoni took time out to give back to a place close to his heart: the School of Rock. Recently, Rapattoni made two appearances on behalf of the school that nurtured his love of music from the time he was 12 and where he taught young students up until the start of his Idol journey. On Friday, he was on hand to celebrate the opening of a school in Plano, Texas, and on Sunday, he rocked out with 800 students at the School of Rock Rockstravaganza in Dallas for a special performance, which was attended by season 7 alum Jason Castro and his family.

Great hangs with the Castro's today. Thanks for the support. Love your fam! @jasoncastro @AmericanIdol pic.twitter.com/a4UcA9aUEO

— Dalton Rapattoni (@DaltonRapattoni) April 17, 2016

These days, the 20-year-old singer is too busy to continue as a teacher at the School of Rock: His single “Strike a Match” caught fire on the charts, debuting at No. 38 on Rock Digital Songs and No. 25 on Alternative Digital Songs.

“You never really think about stuff like that until you are in the middle of it, so when I heard that 'Strike a Match' hit the chart, I was like, ‘Oh snap, what?’” he tells Billboard. “But I was really surprised and excited.”

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Rapattoni was an early standout on the farewell season of Idol, strapping on a guitar and doing an emo version of “The Phantom of the Opera.” Rapattoni said he chose the Broadway song because he didn't love the other choices available on the audition list. “You don’t want to go on the show and do 'Ain't No Sunshine,' because everyone does 'Ain't No Sunshine,'” he says. “I was trying to find something I could do cool but had never been on the show before.”

The strategy worked, and he was similarly successful during the showcase rounds with his version of Olivia Newton-John's “Hopelessly Devoted to You” from Grease. He said he had two other opportunities to perform the song, including if he made the top two. “For me, that was actually one of my favorite ones,” he says. “I love that song.”

That’s two musical theater selections for the Texas  musician -- not bad for a kid who hasn’t seen a Broadway play yet. While in New York last week, Rapattoni was given a tour of the Winter Garden Theater, where the new musical School of Rock (not affiliated with the school) is being staged.

“That was dope,” he says. “I love musical theater. I love the movies. Les Miserables is probably my favorite movie ever. And I love Sweeney Todd in the movies and stuff like that. If the opportunity came up, I would do it."

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While his musical-theater song choices worked, others -- “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons, for instance -- didn’t quite click. “I was kind of seeing if listening to the producers would work, and we found out that it didn’t for me,” he says. “One of the big things that went wrong that week is I was trying to get a different arrangement on it. We had this really cool church organ thing in the beginning, and it was supposed to sound different than the original, but when we got in with the band, they just did not have the resources to do that, I guess. It sounded absolutely horrible, and so we decided to do it like the original, grit our teeth, and try to get through the week.”

He did survive that round, and made it far enough to work with Sia -- whom he calls “an inspiration” -- in one of his best weeks, during which he revealed he was bipolar. “I felt like it was really important for me to talk about it on the show because I had a huge platform, so I might as well make it worth something,” he says. “I didn’t want to go on the show and then leave and not have done anything worthwhile.”

The finale was an educational experience, he said. Meeting Idol alumni -- in particular season 10 rocker James Durbin -- made him feel like one of his students at School of Rock. “James Durbin is a super-duper cool guy. He gave me the phone number for someone who makes his hats, which I really appreciated. He has cool hats,” he says. “They were all really cool. It was weird, because I felt like our year was really young compared to everybody else. We had a lot of really young people in our top 10, so we kind of felt like the babies in a room of adults, so that was a weird feeling."

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Returning to the School of Rock last weekend, Rapattoni was the one imparting wisdom to kids looking up to him for advice. “I still do appearances and I speak to the kids whenever I can,” he says. “The great thing about School of Rock kids, they don’t ask me anything. They treat me the same way as before I left for Idol."

When he does speak to the kids, he passes on advice he learned from his time on the Fox singing show. “I always tell my kids to make music that you like. Don’t make music you think people are going to like and don’t go chasing a record deal,” he says. “Try to have fun, and if it’s meant to happen, it’s meant to happen. For me, I’m not pursuing labels. I’m just doing my own thing and making music until a label wants to pursue me.”

Doing his own thing involves exploring his options with 19 Entertainment and recording tracks in Austin, Texas, for his album. He's working with Blue October bassist Matt Noveskey, who helped produce songs for Rapattoni’s band Fly Away Hero. “We had great chemistry,” he said. “We are going to be holed up in studios in Austin for a while banging this thing out.”

Asked if he might ask anyone from his season to collaborate on his album, Rapattoni immediately said he would love to record something with Tristan McIntosh.

“I was thinking maybe Tristan could come in and do a song or two,” he said. “We were playing music backstage messing around and we found out our voices worked really well together, so that would be a good fit."

Unfortunately, fans wanting to see the top 10 on tour this summer won’t have that opportunity.

“I was kind of bummed about the whole tour thing too,” he says of Idol choosing not to do a season 15 tour. “But I am doing gigs here and there. We’ll get something going.”