Lady Gaga didn't miss fame during her six months out of the spotlight.

The "Applause" singer desperately "missed" performing on stage following her hip surgery in February, an injury which caused her to cancel the remaining dates on her Born This Way Ball; however, she didn't yearn for all the hoopla that often surrounds her life because of her massive celebrity.

"I'm really happy to be back and I do feel back, because even though I'm present in my mind as a person, I don't really feel truly alive unless I'm on stage. I missed being on stage. I always love seeing my fans outside, but I wouldn't say I missed the fame, if that makes any sense. I think what I've realised more than anything is that I'm really not in it for that at all."

The 27-year-old pop superstar - who performed for the first time since her surgery at the MTV Video Music Awards last month - spent a lot time watching television with her parents as she recovered from her operation.

But the workaholic musician couldn't resist choreographing her video for new single 'Applause' while she was laid up: "I laid in bed, and in the 'Applause' video you can already see me doing the choreography on my back, that's actually indicative of what I was doing at the time. [I was] thinking about what I would be doing for the next album cycle and thinking about 'Applause.'"

Gaga's time away enabled her to work on her upcoming album ARTPOP, which she debuted new songs from at the opening night of the iTunes festival in London on Sunday. Speaking about the eagerly-anticipated record, she mused, "I've been planning it. The downtime was really good for me because I love creating and I love songwriting, so I really got to make love to the music."