Taylor Swift's 2022 studio album Midnights is a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams. The floors we pace and the demons we face - the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout Taylor's life.

Midnights isn't a retreat so much as a return, a revival of the moody electro-pop that kept Reputation roiling. Where that 2017 record carried a measure of defiance, the vibe of Midnights is contemplative even when beats are insistent, as they are on occasion. Despite these fleeting moments of urgency, the record is clearly a soundtrack to be played in the wee hours of the morning. In that sense, Midnights is a kindred spirit to Folklore and Evermore, the twin 2020 albums Swift released during the height of the 2020 pandemic, yet those records felt like collections of short stories where these songs -- whether in their standard 13-song variation or the lengthy "3 AM Edition" which runs an additional seven tracks -- all feel like confessions, even if they display the sense of exacting lyrical detail she's honed since Lover. These compositions provide a sturdy foundation on a record that wants to capture the aimless suspension of late-night insomnia, a time filled with regret, recriminations, and resignations. Swift spikes this moodiness with hints of steeliness -- witness the cool swagger of "Vigilante Shit" -- but that's merely an accent on an album designed to deliver variations on one specific mood. Although this monochromatic palette tends to highlight the limits of co-producer Jack Antonoff's bag of tricks -- nothing here feels surprising, even when he's playing with textures and teasing out the music's dream pop elements -- the narrow focus is the main attribute of Midnights, as it plays to Swift's sense of control and craft: she may be singing about messy emotions but she sculpts those tangled feelings into shimmering, resonant songs.