'It's gonna be May' meme takes over social media and you can thank Justin Timberlake

Unless you live under a rock, your social media feed has likely been filled with Justin Timberlake memes. Where did the iconic "It's gonna be May" meme originate, and how are social media users reinventing it 12 years later?

How did the 'It's gonna be May' meme start?

The meme stems from NSYNC's 2000 smash hit "It's Gonna Be Me." When singing the titular line in the song, Justin Timberlake annunciates the word "me" as "May."

According to a 2016 article from E! News, the first iteration of the meme appeared on Tumblr in 2012. The meme was a calendar featuring a smiling photo of Timberlake on April 30 with "It's gonna be May!" written on it. The meme caught fire and different versions of it have been in circulation ever since.

Timberlake even joined in on the fun in 2020, posting a version of the meme on X showing his mouth covered by a mask during the COVID-19 pandemic.

2024 social media responses to 'It's gonna be May' meme

Here are some of our renditions of the Justin Timberlake meme 12 years after the original went viral:

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: 'It's gonna be May' Justin Timberlake meme sees 2024 remixes