John Mayer praises Lady Gaga for standing by Artpop album

Rocker John Mayer has publicly applauded Lady Gaga for standing by her work on flop album Artpop, insisting he has nothing but "huge respect" for the pop superstar for releasing music she believes in.

The singer initially scored a chart hit with her third studio album in 2013, but it received mixed reviews and suffered a large drop in sales after its first week of release, prompting some to deem the project a failure.

Gaga hit back at the criticism, insisting detractors simply failed to understand the concept of Artpop, and now Mayer has offered up his thoughts on the project in a series of Twitter posts.

He writes, "I know this is going to sound like I'm trying to stir up media, but I have huge respect for Lady Gaga and I wanna tell you why.

"She released a record that didn't get the love she was probably hoping for, which happens to REAL artists. And she's stood by it. There is no desperate attempt to be as successful as before by any means necessary, no Artpop 2.0 with cynically produced hits.

"I respect artists who release music they believe in and with a slow steady pulse while doing it, live or die. So yah (yeah)... Carry on Gaga. I can dig it. Everyone else should, too."

Mayer's praise prompted a response from Gaga herself, who tweeted back, "That was really cool @JohnMayer So thoughtful. The respect is mutual."

Gaga took a further step away from her pop roots with her next album, her collaborative effort with Tony Bennett, Cheek to Cheek, which earned the unlikely pair the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album prize at the Grammy Awards earlier this month (Feb15).