As the calendar shifts from April to May, social media users are likely to see “It’s gonna be May” memes featuring Justin Timberlake. The meme, originating from NSYNC’s 2000 hit It’s Gonna Be Me, features Timberlake annunciating “me” as “May.”
The first version appeared on Tumblr in 2012, featuring a smiling photo of Timberlake on April 30 with “It’s gonna be May!” The meme has since gained popularity and has been circulated in various forms.
Justin Timberlake’s hilarious response to It’s Gonna Be Me memes
Grammy winner, Justin Timberlake, joked about his pronunciation of the titular line in NSYNC’s 2000 hit It’s Gonna Be Me in a social media video, causing endless It’s gonna be May memes.
“What’s a word you pronounced incorrectly one time and it still haunts you to this day?” asked influencer @umgabi in a TikTok video, which Timberlake stitched with a hilarious response, as he said in a front-facing clip: “Um… ‘Me.'”
Decades ago, NSYNC fans circulated clips of the band members singing “me” in a song, paired with pictures of the SexyBack singer in various scenarios. Timberlake’s bandmate Joey Fatone recently told PEOPLE the group trade “It’s gonna be May” memes back and forth in an *NSYNC text chain. “There was the one meme that was like, Justin looking like he was dressed up in something from the Night’s Watch from Game of Thrones and I sent him one of those,” he said.
“It was really funny. Every once in a while, one of us will find a good one and we’ll send it on the group text,” added Fatone, 47, who explained the meme “wasn’t even a thing” upon the chart-topping song’s initial release on *NSYNC’s No Strings Attached album.
“It was just, ‘It’s gonna be me.’ When you sing it, it sounds a lot harsher if you’re trying to go, ‘It’s gonna be meeeee.’ It doesn’t sound very good to the ear,” he said. “So when we pronounced it, [producer] Max Martin came up with the idea of saying, ‘It’s gonna be May.’ But we never knew that it was going to take off and become its own thing. And every year you get crazy stuff. But it’s hilarious. And we might as well embrace it.”
Last year, Timberlake shared the story behind the pronunciation of the lyric in an interview with Fatone, JC Chasez, Lance Bass, and Chris Kirkpatrick on Hot Ones. “I sang, ‘It’s gonna be me,'” recalled the “Rock Your Body” performer, “and [Martin] was like, ‘No, no, no, no, no.’ He was like, ‘It’s may, MAY.’”
A brief about the song, It’s Gonna Be Me
It’s Gonna Be Me was released through Jive Records, as the second single from their third studio album No Strings Attached (2000) in the United States, and as the third single from the international edition of No Strings Attached. The song was written by Max Martin, Andreas Carlsson, and Rami Yacoub, and produced by the latter. The pop track was inspired by Joe Jackson’s Steppin’ Out (1982) and Rupert Holmes’ Him (1980), while the lyrics are about a man attempting to persuade a woman to start a new relationship together as she recovers from a previous breakup.
The song debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 42, where it eventually peaked at number one for two consecutive weeks as their only song to peak at that position on that chart. The song was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) one month after its retail release, and was certified platinum in Australia and Canada.
It’s Gonna Be Me also peaked at number one in Canada, and charted in the top 10 on the UK Singles Chart, New Zealand, and Sweden music charts. An accompanying music video was directed by Wayne Isham, and depicts each NSYNC member as a doll inside a toy store attempting to be bought by a female customer. NSYNC performed the song at the 2000 MTV Movie Awards and 2000 MTV Video Music Awards, and in three headlining concerts.
It’s Gonna Be Me was popularized as an Internet meme titled It’s Gonna Be May, after a Tumblr image of NSYNC member Timberlake was posted in 2012 with the respective caption, which gained the attention of Barack Obama and Timberlake himself.
