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Nonaka Shana to debut in K-pop girl group Lapillus, fans say 'best vocalist on GP999'

Momoland's label has shared that their new girl group includes Shana and FIlipina-Argentinian trainee Chanty

While the nine winners of the survival show ‘Girls Planet 999’ debuted in the girl group Kep1er, there were a lot of fan favorites that did not make the cut. And with 99 participants, it wasn’t surprising that many of them stole the viewers’ hearts. But not to worry, many of them have gone on to have their own successful careers. Yurina ended up making her solo debut in Japan. Meanwhile, Suyeon who almost made it into Kep1er as she ranked #10 has now debuted with the popular rookie group Billlie. But there was one girl who even had the show's mentors rooting for her.

Nonaka Shana was one of the front runners of ‘Girls Planet 999’ thanks to her heavenly vocals. She was one of the few who had a stable voice and could sing the perfect high note even while dancing. She also did pretty well on the survival show as she made it to the top 9 a couple of times. Vocalist mentor Lim Hanbyul who was pretty strict with all of the girls ended up calling Shana one of the best vocalists on the show. And well, it looks like others have recognized her talent as well, as she is to make her debut in the new girl group Lapillus.

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Shana to debut in Lapillus

In fact, back in December, after ‘Girls Planet 999’ ended, MLD Entertainment had announced that they had signed Nonaka Shana and she would be debuting with their upcoming girl group Lapillus. She had become the first independent contestant of the survival show to join a K-pop label. The Japanese trainee has been preparing ever since and now her debut has been confirmed on April 25.  

MLD Entertainment has come into partnership with the global event organizer KAMP to broaden the reach of K-pop into the West, as well as the rest of Asia, with their existing and new K-pop artists like Momoland and T1419. They also plan to debut their new girl group Lapillus in June. The girl group will be multi-national as it will have members who can speak Spanish, English, Tagalog, Chinese along with Japanese.  After Shana, the next member revealed happens to be Chanty (Chantal Videla), a Filipina-Argentinian actress and model. The rest of the members will be revealed in the third week of May.

‘Shana will slay’

One fan was excited as they tweeted, “C.E.O LEE CONFIRMED THE DEBUT DATE OF HIS NEW GIRL GROUP WHERE SHANA AND CHANTAL BELONGS THEY WILL DEBUT ON JUNE I CANT WAIT TO SEE CHANTAL AND SHAN DEBUT STAGE🥰🥰 WITH THEIR CO MEMBERS.” Another joked, “Shana banana best vocalist on the show 😭 We will anticipate your debut in momoland 2.0 and subsequent mysterious vanishing.” One fan added, “Lapillus? 😭 why does it sounds like platypus its okay shana will slay anyway.”

Another commented, “Shana was actually the best vocalist on GP999 true story.” One fan hoped that the ‘Girls Planet 999’ members from Billlie, Lapillus and Kep1er would be able to interact during their promotions, “The more time passes the more confident I am that we can have mldngg kepi and billlie promotions around the same time in june bc that after queendom finishes and when lapillus (?) rumoured debut is and idk about billlie bit I WANT IT TO HAPPEN SO BAD YOU DONT UNDERSTAND.”