Thomas Godoj

Godoj’s victory on DSDS meant that the Sony Music Entertainment record company had an option to produce three albums. His debut single, the rock ballad “Love Is You” appeared on 23rd May 2008”, and topped the singles charts for 13 weeks in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Indeed after only two weeks it had already received a Golden Disc for selling 150,000 copies. His debut album “Plan A!”, appeared six weeks later. The title was a reference to his victory on DSDS and his professional career as a musician, and the fact that there had never been a “Plan B”. In Germany the album reached gold and platinum status and was awarded an Echo in 2009. At the start of December 2008 Godoj began touring the album through 16 German towns and cities. This was followed by a further 22 concerts in February 2009. “Richtung G” (“Direction G”), the title of his second album, also produced by Sony, which appeared in 2009, is a reference to the fact that he insisted on having some say about the production. In Berlin he met up with other songwriters and suggested themes to them. The rest of the lyrics he wrote himself. Most of them are stories about personal relationships. His version of the song “Winterkinder” (Winter children) – it deals with the sexual abuse of children – that he penned with Christian Bömkes in 2006, and which can be seen on YouTube with the band WiNK, has been called up on no less than 247,419 occasions. Godoj sings nine songs on the album in German and three in English. The sole Polish song “Zwykła Miłość” (English: Simply Love) was written by Godoj in Warsaw in collaboration with Robert Gawliński, the singer and songwriter with the Polish group Wilki.

In 2010 Godoj decided not to sign another option with Sony for a third album in favour of a move to the SPV record company in Hanover, which was well known for allowing artists to have their own creative freedom. “So gewollt” (English: “That’s the way I wanted it”, 2011), the title of his third studio album that was produced there, is a reference to his withdrawal from the international record industry. The songs written with Bömkes are socially critical; many of them are related to his own past and love affairs. The next two albums also appeared on the SVP label. “Live ausm Pott” (2012) contained recordings made during the “So gewollt” tour. The Internet portal metalglory.de wrote about his fourth studio album “Männer sind so” (“That’s the Way Men Are”, 2013), that Godoj reaches a “degree of hardness […] on a level with bands like Revolverheld”: and that fans could look forward to a “timeless, honest rock album at a high level”.

“Over the years I have continually withdrawn from the music industry and tried to make an independent start”, said Thomas Godoj in an interview with radioBerlin. His separation from the SVP record company and the crowdfunding of his album “V“ (perhaps this is not only a Roman “five” but also a V for “victory”) were not the only steps he took on his own. Since then Godoj has been responsible for the whole production, the studio musicians, the production team, filming the videos and marketing the end result. What is important to Godoj is well produced rock ‚n’ roll, “heavy guitar riffs” and “gut feelings”. He says that the album offers a broad range of songs in which quieter pieces, featuring acoustic guitars and strings, play an important role. Some of the content in the songs are directly addressed to his fans who helped finance the album. Another song “Das tiefe Tal” (The Deep Valley) reflects his own fears about how the enterprise might turn out.