"It's Gonna Be May"

About

“It’s Gonna Be May” refers to a mondegreen featured in the 2000 pop hit single “It’s Gonna Be Me” performed by American boy band NSYNC. Since 2012, various image macros and animated GIFs of the band’s former lead vocalist Justin Timberlake mouthing the lyric with the misheard caption have been circulating on the web, particularly during the last week of April and days leading up to May every year.

Origin

“It’s Gonna Be Me” was released on June 13th, 2000 as the second single from ’NSync’s sophomore album No Strings Attached. The music video was first uploaded to the official NSYNCVEVO YouTube Channel^[1] on October 24th, 2009. As of April 2014, the video has gained over 20.3 million views.

On January 29th, 2012, Tumblr user amyricha^[5] posted a picture of ‘N Sync band member Justin Timberlake with the caption "It’s gonna be May," which pokes fun at the fact when Timberlake sings “Me,” in the song it sounds like “May.”

Spread

On March 16th, 2012, BuzzFeed^[3] posted a picture of a calendar turned to April with a picture Timberlake with the caption “It’s gonna be May,” taped to the final day. The picture was taken from the since deleted Tumblr blog Seapeas.^[4]

On April 29th, 2012, YouTuber Aaron Ochoco^[2] uploaded a video which featured a clip from “It’s Gonna Be Me,” of Timberlake singing the title. The video was titled “It’s Gonna Be May.”

On April 26th, 2013, YouTubers PassionateFriendTime^[5] uploaded a video titled “It’s Gonna Be May,” which parodies the ’N Sync song and focuses on the coming month of May. As of April 2014, the video has gained over 14,000 views.

Notable Examples

Related Memes

April 25th

In the 2000 comedy film Miss Congeniality , a contestant is asked what her perfect date would be, and she replies, “April 25th.” GIF sets featuring this exchange are often reblogged on Tumblr on this date every year.

May 4th

“May the Force Be With You” is a quote from the 1977 science fiction film Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Within the world of Star Wars, as well as among fans of the franchise, it is used as an expression of good luck. Fourth of May was chosen as the Star Wars day by the fans as a clever wordplay on this expression.

October 3rd

In the 2004 teen comedy film Mean Girls the protagonist Cady (Lindsay Lohan) is asked what day it is, and she reply, “It’s October 3rd.” GIF sets featuring this exchange are often reblogged on Tumblr on this date every year.

Search Interest

External References