It's Gonna Be May: How the Iconic Meme Came to Be

In 2000, we saw the premiere of Big Brother, the release of the PlayStation 2, and the debut of NSYNC’s sophomore album, No Strings Attached.

Highly anticipated, the album followed their 1997 self-titled debut and went on to become the best-selling album of the year.

Yet no one could have predicted the enduring celebrity and decades-long legacy of its second single, “It’s Gonna Be Me”.

Let’s rewind to 1999.

After finishing work on “Bye Bye Bye,” songwriters and producers Max Martin, Andreas Carlsson, and Rami Yacoub reunited to craft another track for *NSYNC. That song would become “It’s Gonna Be Me.”

In a 2020 interview with Billboard, JC Chasez reflected on the recording process, explaining their intentional approach to making the vocals stand out. “Instead of saying, ‘You don’t wanna lose’ — which would be kind of boring — we’d be like, ‘You don’t wanna nluuuuse,’” he said.

Likewise, the now-iconic delivery of the chorus was no accident: “Instead of saying, ‘It’s gonna be me,’ we said, ‘It’s gonna bay MAY!’ — to make it hit harder.”

However, in a 2024 interview on Hot Ones, the group gave credit where it was due, revealing that the iconic vocal inflection was actually inspired by the producers.

“What’s funny, specifically with Max Martin,” Justin Timberlake explained, “is that the parts of their English that were broken actually made them catchier songwriters. They would put words together in ways that almost didn’t make sense—but when you sang them, they were more memorable.”

And so, “me” became “may,” and a meme was born. For that, we have the producers to thank.

The song topped the Billboard Hot 100, but its lasting legacy lives on each spring as the internet’s unofficial holiday: “It’s Gonna Be May (Day).”