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Recently, she may have given us a clue. Critics have suggested that, far from a master prankster, she is that most conventional of things in mass entertainment—cynical. That offering a shallow spectacle in the name of self-empowerment, as she laps up the proceeds, amounts to exploitation. And on Monday she felt the need to defend herself, explaining that she writes every song and sings every song, live, for the benefit of her audience. To buttress the point, she then premiered a brand-new song, much to the audience’s delight. The Gaga doth protest too much.

That she can write a catchy dance song—bucketfuls, in fact—is beyond doubt; Gaga didn’t really need to order her fans to shake their butts. Yet this apparently wasn’t enough for Gaga, who in her already long quest for fame has hit upon one of the oldest tricks in the book: assure the majority that they are somehow being oppressed, then set yourself up as their savior. (“Do you want me to die?” she asked the audience in one martyr-like moment, while covered in fake blood.) She imbues her act with anti-establishment symbolism, yet at this point, as the most popular performer today, she could not be more establishment. She’s the Sarah Palin of entertainment, fighting for the right you’d never lost to get your freak on. “I’ll never let you down,” she said Monday with apparent seriousness, as if she hadn’t created our need for her in the first place.

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