"Out Of The Woods" Has an NSYNC Easter Egg

I'm sorry, but I can't be expected to function on a regular human level until Taylor Swift's 1989 is released on Oct. 27. Especially now that Taylor Swift performed "Out Of The Woods" live on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Thursday night. And, I'll admit it, I've watched the video of her performance almost as many times as I've listened to Swift's ode to Harry Styles, "Out Of The Woods," on iTunes. But not just because it's my new favorite song — because Swift's shed her country twang and apparently, shed her cutesy image she debuted with "Shake It Off." And she sounds damn good live, so stick that in your pipe and smoke it, HATERS. Even if she has officially, probably accidentally, plagiarized Justin Timberlake's iconic pronunciation of "me."

On a serious note, however, Swift's vocals were on-point during this performance, as were her more intense, sultry image. She rocked a cropped bustier and high-waisted black pants and literally stalked around the stage like a jungle cat. No, I'm not exaggerating nor am I just looking for an excuse to use that phrase — Swift's presence actually gave me chills because of its stark difference from the goofy persona she's embodied while performing "Shake It Off" over the past few months. Which makes me even more optimistic that Swift's big switch to '80s-inspired pop will be perfect for her in every way.

But on a less serious and praise-filled note, Swift has officially adopted Justin Timberlake's pronunciation of "me" in "It's Gonna Be Me." If you listen closely, when Swift sings, "You were looking at me," it sounds a lot like she's singing, "You were looking at Maaaay." Which would be fine, if it were 11:59 p.m. on April 30, but she already set this song up as being about events in December, so. I'm not complaining, I'm just really excited for Swift to get her own gif inspired by everyone's favorite JT lyric:

Image: gifs-for-the-masses/Tumblr