Former Westlife star Brian McFadden admits the One Direction boys get more attention from females in "one day" than he has had in a "lifetime".

The singer enjoyed success in the popular Irish band before leaving to go solo in 2004.

McFadden is flabbergasted by fellow pop stars One Direction's popularity with the opposite sex.

He joked: “Just one of the boys in the band would have had more birds in one day than Westlife and I had in a lifetime. I want to be in ID. I’ve never seen anything like it.

He added to the Daily Record: “When they came to Australia, there were people talking about them two or three days before. People were queuing in the streets, standing in hotels and waiting at the airport for them.

“It was just manic, like the Pope was coming. There was such a buzz.”

Brian also supported fellow Irish singer Ronan Keating on his Australian tour, and revealed that his wild days on the road are over.

He quipped: “This tour has not been as rock ’n’ roll as Ronan and I expected. When we talked about going to Australia, we thought we’d be going drinking afterwards. But we’ve been staying in hotels in different cities every night, so it’s more like us drinking cups of tea after every gig. We’re like an older version of Jedward.

He continued: “We used to hammer it and I’d always lose my voice. But I’ve not lost it on this tour so maybe that is the key.”