The meme stems from NSYNC's 2000 smash hit "It's Gonna Be Me." When singing the titular line in the song, Timberlake annunciates the word "me" as "May." According to a 2016 article from E!

It’s gonna be ME. *NSYNC frontman Justin Timberlake took to TikTok Sunday and admitted that his mispronunciation of the word “me” in his hit 2000s song “It’s Gonna Be Me” has haunted ...

He also joked, “I knew one day they were going to invent this thing called memes.” *NSYNC recently reunited at the 2023 MTV VMAs where they presented the award for best pop video to Taylor Swift.

Justin Timberlake sang the titular line of *NSYNC's "It's Gonna Be Me" in a way that "haunts" him to this day, he joked on social media.

Others, however, were suffering from some serious “It’s Gonna Be May” fatigue and suggested the meme has passed its internet expiration date. “It’s 2023,” one such hater tweeted.

Does Justin Timberlake want to say bye, bye, bye to the “It’s Gonna Be May” meme? Even if he did, Lance Bass reminds him of it often enough in their ’NSync group chat.

It's gonna be me." The meme has also been available in other forms. Fans of the video game "Overwatch" have posted a version featuring the hero Mei (pronounced the same as May).