One evening in the spring of 2011, Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, more popularly known as Lad­­­y Gaga, rolled ­down the window of her car to talk to a picketer outside a venue where she was about to perform to thousands of adoring fans. The man held a sign which read, “Trust in Christ or End in Hell.”

The conversation, which was caught on a cellphone camera, differs from Gaga’s public performances persona only insofar as it dispenses with props or elaborate lighting. Despite the exchange’s evidently unscripted nature, it’s remarkably on-message: