It’s finally May, which means images of Justin Timberlake‘s face — or ramen noodles — are no longer invading your social media timelines.
The memes refer to *NSYNC‘s number one hit “It’s Gonna Be Me,” in which Justin pronounces “Me” like “May” at the end of the song’s chorus. There’s one person you can thank for starting the entire “It’s Gonna Be May” craze, and that person is Kianna Davis. She’s credited with creating the now-viral meme in 2012 and now, almost a decade later, Justin officially recognized her idea.
“Now that it’s ACTUALLY May, I have to give props where they are due,” Justin wrote on Twitter. “Look what you started @astro_kianna.”
Also adding a crying-laughing emoji in his Saturday tweet, he linked back to Davis’ Twitter thread that started it all.
The first appearance of the meme came on March 15, 2012, when Davis glued a picture of Timberlake’s face on her calendar to mark the end of April. Superimposed text over Justin’s face reads “It’s gonna be May” in all capital letters.
She captioned the original post, simply, “I did it.”
Davis revisited her masterpiece in 2018 to prove she not only kept the calendar, but that the Internet should be thanking her for making it easier to remember what month comes after April, adding, “You’re welcome, internet #itsgonnabemay.”
As for how she feels about Justin finally recognizing her as the creator of the meme, she wrote on her Instagram stories on Saturday, “Can’t believe this. I’ll never forget this (but dude I’m so sorry that you have to see this every year) Love you always.”
As for the ramen noodle images, they’re poking fun at Justin’s super-curly hairdo back in the day.
Now that it’s ACTUALLY May, I have to give props where they are due. Look what you started @astro_kianna 😂 https://t.co/Vl3AIDMqWo
— Justin Timberlake (@jtimberlake) May 1, 2021
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