New girl group Lapillus made their official debut in South Korea on June 20 with the digital single “Hit Ya!”

Lapillus’ members are Korean Haeun (13 years old), Seowon (15) and Bessie (17); Japanese Shana (19); Chinese-American Yue (17); and Filipino-Argentinian Chanty (19). They are the second girl group to debut under MLD Entertainment since Momoland in 2016.

During an online interview with Philippine media, Lapillus members discussed their debut, expectations and plans.

Lapillus, according to Shana, “is like a special stone or like a jewel that shines different colors depending on the direction of light.” Shana is 19 and competed in the reality show “Girls Planet 999” last year.

With the group composed of members of different nationalities, they said that they have the goal to go global.

“Our group, of course, since we just debuted, we are gonna focus on our promotions here in Korea. But our company, as well as Lapillus, is like on our way, like we have this desire to go more global and our global fans as well,” said Chanty, 19, who became part of Starmagic Circle Batch 2018 before becoming a trainee under MLD last year.

The music video for “Hit Ya!” has garnered one million views on YouTube as of 7:34 p.m. on June 21 since it was released at about 5 p.m. on June 20.

During their debut showcase, Lapillus member Haeun explained that “Hit Ya!” comes from a Korean word which means giddy-up, a sound made when riding a horse.

“The song is catchy,” she said in a video uploaded by ABS-CBN on YouTube.

Chanty said well-known Korean singer Lee Seung-chul “was our special vocal director for this song.”

“Thanks to his help, we were able to come up with a very high quality debut album,” said Yue.

Shana said she “started training the earliest out of our members. Some of our members are quite young and some of them were from abroad (who) live far away from their parents. So I’ve tried to take care of them and treat them well and that got me the nickname ‘little mommy.’”

Chanty is described as a “high spirited human vitamin” and she explained that “whenever the team gets tired from training, I send out positive energy that lifts their spirit like a vitamin.”

Seowon is the group’s “idea bank.” She said “at the company, we discuss a lot of what to try nice and every time we brainstorm together, I come up with a lot of good ideas.”

The members said they are happy to have debuted.

Yue said, “Today is the first step of Lapillus and I hope in the future, we will be able to make many, many good memories. And I just really hope you guys enjoyed our debut song ‘Hit Ya!’”

“Today I was feeling so good to be able to perform with the members for the first time. I hope we get a lot of attention as Lapillus and I hope you all continue to give us a lot of interest so we will stay humble and we will keep trying hard as Lapillus and as a member of Lapillus,” said Bessie.

Shana said, “I was so happy to be able to debut today with Lapillus members. I will always remember this day. I will continue to grow.”

“I had so much fun today. I would like to thank all the fans watching from the Philippines and all around the world. We will continue to try hard so you can keep your expectations high for us,” said Haeun.

“I was so happy to make our debut today and I will continue to strive to show a variety of our different sides,” said Seowon.

Chanty said, “Thank you so much for your warm support. Even before our debut, we already felt your loving comments and everything, and I just can’t still believe this is my reality right now. I am here on this stage, here with all of them. This is just a dream come true for me and I just hope you keep on supporting us like forever hopefully. We will keep doing our best.”