Throwback Thursday: *NSYNC – “It’s Gonna Be Me”
The year was 2000 and we were at the height of the teen pop era. The demand for young white artists making (mostly shabby) imitations of R&B was simply insatiable. Britney was on fire. Christina was on fire. The Backstreet Boys were on fire.
And of course, there was *NSYNC.
Earlier that year, the group’s sophomore album, No Strings Attached, sold 2.4 million copies in the US in its first week, making it the biggest domestic debut at the time — Adele has since broken that record with 25 (3.4 million). The album’s second single, “It’s Gonna Be Me,” was the first *NSYNC song that I recognized for being a true jam. It was corny in many ways, but it was catchy as hell and JC Chasez was singing his ass off. He is definitely the Florence Ballard of that group.
Written by Andreas Carlsson, Rami Yacoub and the legendary Max Martin, “It’s Gonna Be Me” would become *NSYNC’s first and only No. 1 on the US charts. And in the almost two decades since its release, the song has had something of a rebirth as a yearly meme. Justin’s weird pronunciation of “me” (in a way that sounds like “may”) has made “It’s Gonna Be Me” one of the internet’s markers for the year’s fifth month. What a legacy.
The music video for “It’s Gonna Be Me” was corny even in 2000, but today, it’s like something out of a sketch show. The group’s choreographer and stylist failed them, but it’s all good. The song still slaps.
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