One Direction Sings Sweet Kelly Clarkson Cover in Unseen 'X-Factor' Footage - Watch!

They may have been on hiatus for six years, but our lives would still suck without One Direction! 

On Wednesday, The X-Factor U.K. shared just under 30 minutes of unseen footage of the former boy band made up of Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson. 

The competition series released extended film of the hitmakers’ earliest moments as a band, showing extended footage surrounding their first-ever performance in front of the judges of Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn” and an unreleased performance of Kelly Clarkson’s “My Life Would Suck Without You.” 

Prior to their performance, the group, then between the ages of 16 and 18, spoke about how high the stakes felt. “There’s a lot of pressure today to show that what they’re doing is the right decision. We all think it’s the right decision though because we’re living it,” Payne, now 30, says. “The first performance we’ve got to show that we’re for real and we are a boy band and we can do this.”

For the second song the “What Makes You Beautiful” band ever sang, they chose Clarkson’s 2009 hit. In the new video, they give a charming yet rocky performance of the pop-rock song, as each member gets a chance to step forward and belt out several verses. Styles, now 29, crooned the chorus as the rest of the band lulled harmonies to support him. 

Judge Simon Cowell later offered criticism based on their performance and spoke to them about why the judges put them together as a group. Cowell told them, “Once we got through to the bootcamp stage, there were weaknesses, which is why we made the decision about all of you individually, because there were people who just shown better by the later stages.”

He continued, “I could see by the looks on your faces that you thought we made a stupid decision and you’d been here before, but you have to know that when I make decisions like that, I am thinking what’s genuinely right for the competition and I have to put you up against the other competitors. It has to be fair.”

The music industry veteran explained to the teenage fivesome, who were all near tears, that he could see they were less experienced than some of the other people in the competition. He ultimately sent them onto the next round and said, “When it worked, it worked. I genuinely think that you work as a band.”

At one point, Cowell also jokingly asks 1D if they had a “falling out” yet, adding, “You will, trust me.” 

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In the past, The X-Factor U.K. has dropped never-before-seen clips of each bandmate’s solo audition and previously unreleased footage of how the “Best Song Ever” boy band was assembled by the judges.

One Direction went on to win third place of the reality show in 2010 and released four albums that peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. 

Malik, now 30, left the band after five years in March 2015. 

The remaining members continued working together until they announced in August 2015 that they were going on an “extended hiatus” starting in March 2016.