atlasobscura.com

Why Justin Timberlake sings "May" instead of "Me"

[allthingslinguistic]

A fun article from Atlas Obscura explaining the “it’s gonna be may” meme:

It’s not super fun to explain a meme, but we kind of have to, so: The “it’s gonna be may” meme is a reference to NSYNC’s 2000 hit “It’s Gonna Be Me,” in which lead singer Timberlake memorably sings the title of the song as “it’s gonna be may.” But I think what makes the meme resonate is that “it’s gonna be may” is just one example of a linguistic tendency that was weirdly popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Think of Mandy Moore’s “Can-day,” Britney Spears growling “oh bay-bay bay-bay,” Gwen Stefani chanting “hey bay-bay hey bay-bay HEY.” The trend to turn the “ee” sound into “ay” continued for years, maybe most memorably in Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy.” (Cray-zay, really.) This isn’t one guy’s vocal quirk: this is a trend, maybe a virus. Why did all these singers change their vowels in that particular way? […]

Except, most of those examples, especially “it’s gonna be may” and “canday,” aren’t especially high notes for Justin Timberlake or Mandy Moore. They aren’t actually straining to hit them. So why are they acting like they are?

Lewis’s theory, which makes sense to me, is that this is an attempt to co-opt the signifiers of intensity without actually needing to use them. Wonder sings “baybay” late in “Superstition” because he’s worked his energy level up, he’s hitting a high, hard note, it bursts out naturally because that’s the way it’s comfortable for him to sing it. “It’s gonna be may” is not like that; Timberlake could sing a clean “me” there perfectly comfortably. But listeners like the intensity of lines like Wonder’s; it’s big and bold and passionate. And Wonder’s vowel sound there has come to indicate to listeners that he’s being big and bold and passionate. Timberlake, Moore, and Spears all just…use that signifier, without any of the physiological need for it. It’s fake energy. Fake passion.

Read the whole thing.

See also these articles about the linguistics of indie pop voice and pop punk voice.

[humanoidhistory]

November 16, 2009 – The Space Shuttle Atlantis surges upward to a rendezvous with the International Space Station.

(NASA)

[lolcatsinlove]

This is Thomas (orange) and Callie (calico). It was love at first sight and going strong for 3 years now.

[marilynmay]

bufflehalloween requested: top 9 Spike’s outfits

[tastefullyoffensive]

(via ognobody54)

[captaincrusher]

A lost Ds9 episode/fic idea:

Julian notices Garak starts to act weird. He’s avoiding him. He makes mysterious subspace calls. He meets Quark several times at odd hours. He leaves a book filled with what appears to be code behind in Julian’s quarters and then gets upset at Julian for looking in it. 

Julian investigates. He learns how to monitor Garak’s calls. He follows him when he goes out in the middle of the night. He learns some Cardassian and spends days trying to decode the messages in the book.

Then he finally decides to confront Garak. And the lizard man is all like “Happy birthday. I know you like to pretend you’re a spy so I created a mystery for you”.

Julian:

Leonard Nimoy, who played the most famous TV scientist of all time, Mr. Spock, came from an arts and theater background and in real life is nothing like his character. Yet he told me that because Mr. Spock and “Star Trek” have inspired so many young viewers to become scientists, researchers who meet him are always desperate to give him lab tours and explain the projects they’re pursuing in peer-to-peer terms. Mr. Nimoy nods sagely and intones to each one, ‘Well, it certainly looks like you’re headed in the right direction.’

NYT (via gq)

[sciencetoastudent]

Giant isopods! Bathynomus giganteus. @lovelandlivingplanet #aquarium #science #zoology #animal #biology #animals #saltlakecity #utah #marinebiology #lovelandlivingplanetaquarium #isopod (at The Living Planet Aquarium)

[sailor-jojo]

MOTHERシリーズでそれぞれ怖かったところを描いてみた。 by うこん@こんがり村村長