LETHAL, Rico’s third studio album and her first for Fueled By Ramen, arrives this May as the grown-up evolution of the “sugar trap” sound. But where her early work was girly, the 15-track LETHAL is all woman, presenting her signature hard/soft duality at its sexiest, coolest, and most confident. Executive produced by Imad Royal, the Grammy-nominated producer known for his work with The Chainsmokers and Panic! at the Disco, the album balances playfully sophisticated songs that draw from the divine feminine (“Pink,” “Butterfly Kisses”) with tracks like “Teethsucker” and “Soul Snatcher” that channel monster truck show energy and establish Rico as a true originator of the rap-rock revival. “I’m putting my flag on the moon: This is my shit. This is what I do,” she says with pride. “It’s not an act. It’s not a phase. It’s not something I’m doing to promote my album. This been the vibe.”Gone are the days when being Rico Nasty felt like playing a character. With LETHAL, Rico’s embodying main character energy instead. “This album is about being confident and saying fuck everybody else,” she says. “It’s about getting doors slammed in your face and people telling you to try it their way again and again, and you stay true to yourself and it works. That’s what this project is. It’s an ode to yourself.