Turns out, one particular of Justin Timberlake’s most legendary lyrics ever arrived from a instant when he was not so in-sync with his tunes producers. In the midst of NSYNC’s ongoing reunion, Timberlake reminisced on how one puzzling pronunciation alternative led to around two many years of inescapable meme gold. The singer exposed a language barrier in the studio although recording “It’s Gonna Be Me” is to thank for Timberlake becoming the deal with of May.

Timberlake discovered the origin of his exceptional pronunciation in NSYNC’s strike 2000 one all through the band’s Sept. 21 episode of Scorching Kinds. When asked about a rumor that he was supplied a observe to sing the “me” in “It’s Gonna Be Me” meaner, Timberlake clarified that the song’s writers and producers have been emphatic about him singing “may” alternatively of “me.”

“I sang, ‘It’s gonna be me,’ and he was like, ‘No, no, no, no, no, no,’” Timberlake recalled. “He was like, ‘It’s may possibly! May perhaps!’” The track was penned by Max Martin, Andreas Carlsson, and Rami Yacoub, all of whom are Swedish. JC Chasez introduced up how their accents could have been section of the pronunciation choice. “You also have to don’t forget their Swedish accents, and they experienced carried out a demo of it and have been like, ‘It’s like this,’” Chasez included.

“Yes, it was a specific be aware that I obtained,” Timberlake ongoing, “And I was just like, ‘These fellas are outrageous.’ … But I did it the way he asked for and that’s what designed the history.”

Of program, Timberlake now understands that the decision paid off big time. April 30 has become an unofficial vacation honoring Timberlake, as the online explodes in “It’s Gonna Be May” memes and jokes forward of the new thirty day period each year.

Timberlake credited the song’s writers for its lasting importance, noting how their Swedish accents in fact served them make greater English-language songs. “Specially to Max Martin, the pieces of their English that were broken truly designed them catchier songwriters,” Timberlake pointed out. “Because they would place phrases in a way that just about did not make sense, but when you sang them, they were being a lot more unforgettable.”