Tom Parker says it is "impossible" competing with One Direction.
The 25-year-old singer admitted that The Wanted - who announced they were taking "a break" from each other earlier this year following their worldwide 'Word of Mouth' tour - struggled to keep up with the rival group's success.
He told Digital Spy: "For The Wanted to try and compete against one of the biggest bands in the world - One Direction - it's almost impossible.
"I don't think any band out there can compete with them at the moment."
Meanwhile, Tom insists that the group - which also includes Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness and Nathan Sykes - remain good friends and says their decision to go their separate ways was born out of each member wanting to do their "own thing".
He explained: "I played guitar when I was younger and that kind of took a back seat when I was in the band.
"Obviously when you're in a band like that it's a product at the end of the day, and you're a boyband and that's what you do, even though we'd say, 'We don't wanna dance and we don't wanna do this'.
"Ultimately it probably wasn't a route I would've wanted to go down myself, so it's nice to come out of it and experiment in the studio and do my own thing for a while, which is cool."
Tom also hinted that a reunion could still be on the cards in the future.
When asked if there's a chance that The Wanted will release new material in the future, Tom said: "I think so, yeah. It's just timing at the end of the day."
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