Justin Timberlake Reveals the REAL Reason He Sang “It’s Gonna Be May” _ E! News

Transcript

00:00 "I sang 'It's gonna be me' and he was like, 'No, no, no, no, no.'"

00:04 How did "It's gonna be me" become "It's gonna be May"?

00:09 Justin Timberlake remembers it well.

00:11 He and the rest of NSYNC are continuing their reunion moment as the guests on a new episode

00:16 of the viral talk show Hot Ones, where they're asked about the origin story of Justin's

00:21 meme-worthy pronunciation of the word "May" on the group's hit record "It's Gonna Be

00:26 Me," released in the year 2000.

00:29 "I sang 'It's gonna be me' and he was like, 'No, no, no, no, no.'"

00:34 And he was like, "It's May.

00:35 May."

00:36 "You also remember their Swedish accent?"

00:37 "Yeah, he has a Swedish accent."

00:38 "And they had done a demo of it and they were like, 'It's like this.'"

00:43 Justin credits Swedish producer Max Martin's broken English for helping create the monster

00:49 hits.

00:50 "Parts of their English that were broken actually made them catchier songwriters because they

00:55 would put words away that almost didn't make sense, but when you sang them, they were more

00:59 memorable, right?

01:01 And yes, it was a specific note that I got and I was just like, 'This guy's crazy.'"

01:05 "He's gonna be so meme-worthy."

01:08 "Yeah, I knew one day they're gonna invent this thing called memes.

01:13 But yes, it was a specific note and I did it the way that he requested and that's what

01:18 made the record."

01:20 The guys' epic reunion at the 2023 MTV VMAs has brought joy to millennials everywhere,

01:26 especially after it was revealed shortly after that there's more where that came from.

01:32 "Wait, that's the first NSYNC song finished in 23 years?

01:37 Listen, man."

01:40 The band officially has new music on the way for the first time in more than two decades.

01:45 Their song "Better Place" is dropping on September 29th and the guys recently teased the song

01:51 with a peek at their return to the recording booth.

01:54 "Blind, that's why I hit you.

01:55 I was like, 'Hey, something came out.'

01:58 If we do this song, it's a love letter to our fans.

02:02 I would be honored to have the group on this song."

02:06 "Who's ready for a reunion?"

02:08 "I'm ready."

02:14 "I'm ready."

02:17 (dramatic music)