Rico Nasty signs to Fueled By Ramen and details forthcoming studio album, LETHAL

“ TEETHSUCKER (YEA3X)" was both the first song I wrote for the album, and the first song I ever wrote with Imad Royal, who executive produced LETHAL,” Rico shares, “We all knew this song was special from the moment we turned it in. And what’s a better way to start the new era than by poppin out like a titty????”

Around the time of Las Ruinas, Rico Nasty felt trapped: “I was caught in the space of wanting to be understood by the masses, but also recognizing that maybe I’m not supposed to be.” She’d started to feel pigeonholed by her own outré persona, which hadn’t changed much since she’d stepped into the role of Rico Nasty as a teen. “I felt like I was living in character,” the 27-year old admits today. “And when I first started, that was the whole idea of it — but that gets exhausting.” Backstage at last year’s headlining tour, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror dressed as a teenage raver. “No shade, but dude, you’re 26,” she recalls thinking. “When are you going to grow up?”

Next came a year of reckoning and finding her way back to herself. Meanwhile she’d parted ways with her entire management team, flying solo until an opportunity to perform with Paramore in summer 2023 introduced her to her new team. Rico had been signed to Atlantic Records since 2018, but dreamed of being “somewhere a little bit more edgy, where I had more space to grow and be whoever I felt like being.”

When her new team mentioned Fueled By Ramen, the alternative label who launched bands like Fall Out Boy and Panic! at the Disco into the mainstream, Rico panicked that she’d be misunderstood: “I’m a rapper, and I want to be remembered as a rapper.” Instead, the label instructed Rico to stay true to no one but herself.

LETHAL is Rico Nasty’s third studio album following her debut album, Nightmare Vacation and the 2022 follow-up to Las Ruinas.