The "ARTPOP" star says the injury that knocked her out of the Born This Way Ball could've led to a hip replacement.

The hip injury that forced Lady Gaga to cancel the remaining dates on her Born This Way Ball tour wasn't just a labral tear but instead a gruesome fracture, the pop star explains in a new interview with Women's Wear Daily.

"When we got all the MRIs finished before I went to surgery there were giant craters, a hole in my hip the size of a quarter, and the cartilage was just hanging out the other side of my hip," Gaga explains. "I had a tear on the inside of my joint and a huge breakage. The surgeon told me that if I had done another show I might have needed a full hip replacement. I would have been out at least a year, maybe longer."

Gaga's forced downtime allowed her to focus on her new album and app, ARTPOP, which will be released in November.

"I had six months to beef up my brain and my body," she says. "I got to put a giant white or black sheet of paint over my whole canvas and I got to review ARTPOP again. I was given the time to really be creative because it’s a gazing process, it really is. I have to gaze into the work for long periods of time for it to be good."

As for her first single, "Applause," set to be released on Aug. 19, Gaga says it's "very fun" and "full of happiness," noting that the song is about her living for the applause.

As for her highly anticipated return to the spotlight, performing at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, Gaga joked she'd arrive in a variation of her famous Grammys egg.

“I’m going this year as a fried egg instead of hard-boiled," she says.