"Time to Pretend" is a song by the American indie band MGMT, released as the lead single from their debut studio album Oracular Spectacular (2007) on March 3, 2008. An earlier version had been released on their Time to Pretend EP. The single was released as a 7" and CD single featuring the B-sides "Weekend Wars" (BBC Radio 1 Session) and "Metanoia", respectively. In early 2009, the song was re-released in the UK. The song was ranked at number 493 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song was ranked at number 90 on NME's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

The track was originally recorded for the Time to Pretend EP (2005). It was re-recorded for the Oracular Spectacular album.

From a quote from live at Abbey Road:

The music video for the song contains references to Alejandro Jodorowsky's 1973 film The Holy Mountain and the classic book Lord of the Flies. The video was directed by Ray Tintori. Tiscali Music gave the video a rating of 10 out of 10 A 3D version of the video with minor changes to the original was also produced.

"Time to Pretend is a space-rock gem that mocks the clichéd coke-and-hookers rock-star lifestyle, over big synth whooshes." – Kevin O'Donnell, Rolling Stone

The song hit #38 on the Mediabase Alternative chart.Time critic Josh Tyrangiel named Time to Pretend the #8 song of 2008. The song was #3 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2008, #4 on NME's Best Singles of 2008, The song was ranked at number 493 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".NME ranked "Time to Pretend" as the 2nd best song of the 2000s. In October 2011, NME placed it at number 12 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".

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