Justin Timberlake recently revealed the story behind his famous, and meme-worthy, pronunciation of “me” in *NSYNC’s 2000 hit song “It’s Gonna Be Me.”
The “Suit & Tie” singer discussed the lyric during a Friday appearance with his bandmates Lance Bass, JC Chasez, Joey Fatone, and Chris Kirkpatrick on “Hot Ones,” a popular YouTube series produced by First We Feast (First We Feast and HuffPost share a parent company, BuzzFeed, Inc.).
Timberlake famously sang the line “It’s gonna be me” in a way that sounded like “It’s gonna be May.” His pronunciation of “May” has inspired numerous memes, with fans sharing clips from the 2000 music video to celebrate May 1st.
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During his interview on “Hot Ones,” Timberlake explained that he was instructed to sing “May” instead of “me.” He revealed that he worked with Swedish producers and co-writers who, due to a slight language barrier, unintentionally created catchier lyrics by putting words together in unconventional ways.
“The parts of their English that were broken actually made them catchier songwriters because they would put words in a way that almost didn’t make sense, but when you sang them, they were more memorable,” he said.
Timberlake credited producer and writer Max Martin as one of the individuals who influenced his pronunciation of “May.”
In a playful manner, Timberlake joked that he had predicted 20 years ago that his “May” pronunciation would become a meme someday.
“I knew one day they’re going to invent this thing called memes,” he said.
The “Cry Me a River” singer even joined in on the May 1st memes himself.
In April 2020, shortly after the World Health Organization declared the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Timberlake shared an “It’s Gonna Me May” meme edited to show him wearing a mask.
“Spring Summer 2020. Thanks for this, Internet,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
*NSYNC surprised fans with a rare reunion at the MTV Video Music Awards earlier this month. It was their first public performance together since the 2013 VMAs.
The iconic boy band is set to release their first song in two decades, titled “Better Place,” for the upcoming animated movie “Trolls Band Together.” The track is scheduled to be released on September 29.
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