Matt Cardle spoke with Nick Duerden of the Independent on Sunday and explained that if he didn't win last year's X Factor, he would have been finished with the music industry.

The singer, who has recently released the Gary Barlow-penned song, 'Run For Your Life', said:

"Oh, I felt like I was risking everything. I had been making music for about 14 years by that point, and hadn't got anywhere. I had nothing else in my life, just this. And I knew that if X Factor didn't work for me, I was f**ked".

He continues to say that he had to win the show:

"I knew that if I ended up going out at an early stage, or even if I finished third or fourth, that would be it for me. It would be seen as a kind of death in the industry. Basically, I needed to win".

Cardle's music background was in metal and grunge and when he was at the Kerrang Awards earlier this year, as an X Factor winner, he felt out of place:

"I was at the Kerrang Awards recently and I was in my element: Slipknot on this table, Korn on that table; bands I love, singers I hero-worship. But all anybody could say to me was, 'What the hell are you doing here? You're that X Factor dude.' I suppose that's not about to change, is it?"

The 27-year-old hopes that with his debut album, 'Letters', which is due to be released on October 17, he can prove himself as an artist:

"I walked all by myself. I've made my bed. All I can hope for now is that the album proves to people there is a little more to me than some think, and that I might just be worthy of respect after all".

The 'When We Collide' singer says that he is grateful to Simon Cowell and the opportunities he gave him:

"Simon is a really lovely guy, really clever, and really busy. But he has let me go away and write an album the way I wanted it to be, and, I'm sorry, but I can only thank him eternally for that."

Check out Matt Cardle's video for his single, 'Run For Your Life', and his performance of 'When We Collide' on the night that he won X Factor: