Lapillus’ Chanty Reveals Belle Mariano and Charlie Dizon Introduced Her to K-Pop

MLD Entertainment is introducing a new six-member girl group called Lapillus, and it’s officially debuting in the K-pop industry today with the release of their single “Hit Ya!” 

The group is made up of Shana (Japanese - leader and vocalist), Chanty (Filipino-Argentinian - vocalist), Seowon (Korean - vocalist and dancer), Bessie (Korean - vocalist and rapper), Yue (Chinese-American - vocalist and dancer), and Haeun (Korean - dancer and maknae).

If you find Chanty familiar, well, that’s because she’s also known as Chantal Videla. This 20-year-old was a Star Magic artist and had supporting roles in shows like ABS-CBN’s Starla and Wansapanataym, as well as TV5’s I Got You. She also starred in the 2019 film Familia Blondina and was a regular at Sunday noontime musical variety show ASAP. 

To see her debut with a K-Pop girl group does spark Filipino pride, as it further proves that Filipino talent is world-class. With this milestone, we were naturally curious about how Chanty’s K-Pop journey started. 

During a press conference with the members of Philippine press, we asked Chanty how her love for K-Pop started. She shares, “Throughout my training years [in Star Magic], I had a couple of friends and they were really big fans of K-pop, and that’s where I got introduced to K-pop as well as K-dramas. One of the remarkable friends who were really, like, into K-pop is, I would say, Belle Mariano and, as well as Charlie Dizon. She also had experiences here, too. She was a really big fan of, like, big K-pop groups here, too. Because of them, I was kind of introduced to K-pop.” 

Chanty said that Belle and Charlie, who are both stars of the 2020 film Four Sisters Before the Wedding, introduced her to BTS and Blackpink. “They were ones of the first groups that caught my attention and that’s when I kinda, like, I was fascinated by their performance, their stages. That’s when I started to have this wild dream of becoming a K-pop idol.” 

Chanty was introduced to MLD Entertainment through her father’s Korean friend. She trained with them for about nine months to debut in the group. 

Viral Scandal star Charlie Dizon was also a K-Pop trainee, and is good friends with Nancy of MOMOLAND, also a K-Pop girl group under MLD Entertainment. He’s Into Her’s Belle Mariano is an ARMY (fan of BTS), and once revealed that her bias is Jungkook. 

Lead photos from RISE Artists Studio and @officiallapillus