lady gaga in the house

The New Yorker has a fascinating piece that is somewhat on Lady Gaga, but also on the ephemeral nature of pop music. According to Sasha Frere-Jones, Lady Gaga represents the current return of disco-synth to the pop scene (giving Alex and Annie hope that Metric will finally get their just due). The question is, do artists like Gaga (who claim to be self-aware) bring about the shifts in popular music taste, or are they just a product of intrinsic volatility in what is "in the moment"? It's an interesting question, Lady Gaga is a pretty interesting character, and this is a very interesting piece.