"It was not a good album and I think [Lady Gaga] would admit that," Elton John said.

Seems like a harsh critique -- coming from the pop rocker's latest interview with Zane Lowe on Beats 1, where the two chatted about John's upcoming written collaboration with Gaga.

But before things got too critical in the discussion of Lady Gaga's third studio album, ARTPOP, the musical icon dialed things down by offering up a few compliments regarding Gaga's more recent work.

"Then in the midst of that, she did three things which were kind of amazing. She did the whole tour and album with Tony Bennett, which did amazingly well. She sang the Julie Andrews tribute at the Oscars, which everybody loved. And she was on 'American Horror Story.'"

The upcoming written collaboration between the two will be fascinating, to say the least.

Perhaps John believes that if you're going to critique another artist's work, you should at least be open to lending a helping hand on the next project.

Lady Gaga and Elton John have worked together before on TV and movie soundtracks -- like that of the "Muppets" thanksgiving special -- but never in such an official pop capacity as now.

And not only is the pop-rock legend lending his creative writing skills; he's also lending his ear to Gaga's new, unheard music.

"I've heard two songs, which are killer. They're just great songs,” he told Lowe, via NME. “It's like back to the early stuff of hers -- like 'You and I' and the Bruce Springsteen one (as I always call it), 'Bad Romance'."

Classic Gaga mixed with modern-age Gaga?

Count us in.