Is it really May if it doesn’t start with Justin Timberlake being trolled over “It’s Gonna Be May?” The answer, in this day and age, is no. Every April 30 and May 1 the memes roll in, and we all get a kick out of *NSYNC and the way “Me” is pronounced in their hit song “It’s Gonna Be Me.” Now, Joey Fatone has spoken up about his favorite meme surrounding the boyband’s hit song, and it features Timberlake and Game of Thrones.
While *NSYNC went viral earlier this year for their reunion at the VMAs, every single year they go viral for their song and the fact that "me" sounds like "May" in it. Speaking about the annual internet tradition, Fatone told People about his favorite memes of the track, and the one he sent to Justin Timberlake. The singer said:
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. 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.
If you Google “Game of Thrones ‘It’s Gonna Be May’” what comes up is a horrendously Photoshopped image of Sean Bean’s Ned Stark with Justin Timberlake’s face on it. Then in classic meme font, the post says:
Brace yourselves, it’s gonna be May posts are coming
You know, it’s like “Winter is coming,” it’s hilarious! However, unlike Winter, May always comes and we aren’t waiting seasons for it. Like Winter though, the inevitability of the “It’s Gonna Be May” memes coming is real, and the fact that this is true is hysterical.
I like to picture one of the Night’s Watchmen in the Game of Thrones cast, like Jon Snow, on The Wall waiting for May to come. Or, it’s really funny to think about them saying “May is coming” in that thick Northern accent. All around, the more you think about this meme, the better it gets.
Now, the history of this meme also makes the GOT spoof better. The story behind “It’s Gonna Be Me” begins in the recording studio where Timberlake was asked to pronounce “may” instead of “me” because the Swedish producer Max Martin told him to. While on Hot Ones, the singer said:
I sang ‘It’s Gonna Be Me’ and he was like ‘No, no, no, no, no,’ and he was like ‘It’s May, may’... You know what’s funny specifically to Max Martin, the parts of their English that were broken actually made them catchier songwriters because they would put words away that almost didn’t make sense, but when you sang them they were more memorable, right?
Oh yeah, it was memorable all right! Now, it’s been 24 years since the song’s release, and the memes are still going strong. They’re so strong in fact that they crossover with other pop culture juggernauts like Game of Thrones.
Overall, the last day of April and the first day of May are always a good time, because it's a silly reminder of the banger that is “It’s Gonna Be Me.”
While the GOT meme insinuates that the memes are a bad thing, they’re not, they’re always funny. Personally, I can’t wait for 2025 to see them arise again. But for now, I’ll be listening to Justin Timberlake sing “me” in a way that sounds like “May” on repeat, and streaming Game of Thrones with a Max subscription.
