People’s memories of Williams, an Oscar nominee, reading the words “Fo’ shiz” from Spears’ book are now unlocked.
Nothing could have prepared readers for Michelle Williams’ narrating of Britney Spears’ memoir more than some sensitive disclosures.
Videos of Williams reading “The Woman in Me” have gone viral, garnering thousands of reshares on social media and several requests for the actor to be nominated for a Grammy.
Her imitation of Justin Timberlake has captured the attention of many people in particular. In the book, Spears claims that by hanging out with Black musicians and overall being a group of “white boys [who] loved hip hop,” NSYNC seemed to set itself apart from the Backstreet males, the band’s primary rival at the height of their success.
At times, I believe they made excessive efforts to blend in. J and I visited areas of the city I had never been to before one day when we were in New York. A man wearing a massive, ostentatious medallion was approaching us. Spears states, “He had two enormous security guys flanking him. “Oh yeah, fo’ shiz, fo’ shiz,” J exclaimed, getting all giddy. Ginubawine! Hey, how are you?
Reactions to that specific sound clip started to surface on X, and some users even turned it into a TikTok meme.
Nothing could possibly have prepared someone for the 15 seconds of Michelle Williams performing a britney spears-penned Justin Timberlake impression, according to a user on X.
“This is art—(white) Michelle Williams impersonating Britney Spears as Justin Timberlake as a Black person—this is art,” another user wrote on X, demanding that Williams be nominated for an Oscar—which she cannot have because audiobook narration is not a category.
“When I tell you that I hollered when I heard Michelle Williams make fun of Justin Timberlake’s Blaccent,” a commenter posted to YouTube. Let me start by saying that Britney is a savage for including that in the book. Pure hilarity, though, when you hear Michelle Williams recite it.
Reddit users dubbed Williams’ Timberlake impersonation “uncanny” in a well-liked thread. Some claimed that Williams’ sometimes striking resemblance to Spears caused them to forget Williams wasn’t Spears narrating her own book.
Online users expressed their admiration for Williams’ apparent ability to accurately mimic Mariah Carey’s speaking voice, which Spears described as having a “deep, beautiful” voice. Spears also talked about how amazed she was to meet Carey and request a picture with her.
A lot of people on the internet claimed to have just discovered that Michelle Williams, the R&B girl group Destiny’s Child member, wasn’t the same Michelle Williams, which caused some surprise when her narration suddenly became viral.