Some songs hit different at 2 a.m. That’s not the song changing. That’s you listening.

The recording is fixed and your state is not. Late, tired, alone, with the day’s defences down, you have access to things you cannot reach at two in the afternoon, so the same three minutes open onto something else entirely. A stable object is meeting a moving listener. Most of what people call taste is really timing.

Notice which of your states a song belongs to this week and use it on purpose. Keep one track for when you need to get moving and one for when you need to feel something honestly. And avoid big decisions about your life at two in the morning, when everything is turned up.