Singer Antony Costa, who made a name for himself in popular boyband Blue, has admitted that he feels One Direction have been handed a life of luxury because they went through the X Factor to get noticed.

Speaking to Yahoo! OMG, Costa explained that his former group did things the "right" way by building a fan base from scratch and performing all over the country in tiny venues and newer pop acts don't deserve such fast success:

"It's a different story for One Direction, Blue came through the right route. We had to work hard to build up our fan base in pubs and university gigs."

"It's a shame now that doesn't happen. It was more about the music for us. I like to say we did it the right way."

Despite criticising the purpose and aim of talent shows like The X Factor, Costa added that if Blue hadn't been so well-received he would have been tempted to apply:

"X Factor is about the contestants not the music. It's like, someone only performs if they have something to promote."