Justin Timberlake Comes Clean on His 'Haunting' 'Its Gonna Be Me' Pronunciation

Finally! Justin Timberlake at last, gave an explanation for his mispronunciation of the NSYNC song "It's Gonna Be Me."

Pronouncing "may" instead of "me" in the song, Justin sings the word in a unique way that later sparked a wave of social media memes.

The singer has since explained the origins of the unusual inflection, saying that Max Martin, a Swedish songwriter and producer who worked on the song with Andreas Carlsson and Rami Yacoub, made the request.

In his "Hot Ones" YouTube appearance, Timberlake said, "The parts of their English that were broken actually made them catchier songwriters, because they would put words [in] a way they almost didn't make sense, but when you sang them, they were more memorable. But yes, it was a specific note that I got and I was just like: 'This guy is crazy.' But yes, it was a specific note and I did it the way that he requested and that's what made the record."

Earlier on, Timberlake already shared how haunted he is by his unique pronunciation.

He answered a question on TikTokers on September 17, 2023 that goes, "What's a word that you mispronounced once and it still haunts you to this day?"

"Well, me." Woodlake answered.

Almost 20,000 TikTokers swiftly shared their reactions to the video in the comments section. One user retorted, "Mayyyyyyyy will always be my favorite." "It's gunna be may," another person remarked, "will be in our lives forever."

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"I honestly forgot he was saying "me." I now simply assume it's "mayyy," as in may. Hahahha," said a third watcher.

Just one week has passed since the pop sensation and the rest of *NSYNC got back together at the VMA Awards, marking the first time in many years. Justin posted this video.

The group has come back together and is ready to release "Better Place," their first single in 20 years.

Timberlake stated that they wanted the song to have a nostalgic yet contemporary vibe to it.

"I think the trick was to try to capture both, for our fans that have been with us for so long to give them something that felt not necessary, felt nostalgic but familiar, and then see if we could take that sound and make it feel modern."

His bandmate JC Chasez also said, "We listen to the world today, we're obviously influenced by 20 years of experiences. But we still want to give them us."

"Better Place" is included on the soundtrack of the recently released film "Trolls: Band Together," which opens on November 17 and was released on September 29.

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