Modern Times is the third studio album by South Korean singer-songwriter IU. It was released on October 8, 2013, via LOEN Entertainment under its imprint LOEN Tree. Under the theme of "French Black", the album departs from the singer's girlish image which established her as the "Nation's Sweetheart", by attempting various styles of music such as swing, jazz, and bossa nova. Her first full-length record since Last Fantasy (2011), the album contains guest features and collaborations from several artists.

Lee Ji-eun, also known by her stage name IU (아이유), is a South Korean singer-songwriter and actress. She signed with LOEN Entertainment in 2007 as a trainee and debuted as a singer at the age of fifteen with Lost and Found (2008), her first extended play (EP). Although her follow-up albums, Growing Up and IU...IM, brought mainstream success, it was only after the release of "Good Day", the lead single from her 2010 album Real, that she achieved national stardom. "Good Day" went on to spend five consecutive weeks at the top of South Korea's Gaon Digital Chart, and in 2019, it was ranked number one on Billboard's "100 Greatest K-Pop Songs of the 2010s" list.