Taylor Swift's Red confirms her as Queen of Heartbreak

Taylor Swift has also reached a new level of enlightenment.

Red, her ruddy fourth album, cements her ambivalent reputation as Queen of Heartbreak, blithely chronicling the misadventures of past boyfriends.

Okay, you half-suspect she's mining her flings for opportunistic inspiration, but there's no doubt she's connected with a trigger-happy, social media-savvy generation of youth who won't mince their words.

Moving far from country to full-bloom pop and recruiting the business nous of Max Martin and input from friends like Ed Sheeran and Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol, she's mastered the art of pop revenge.