[8][9] McCarthy first met the Lisdoonvarna Crew in April 2023 through an outreach workshop with the Kabin Studio and was inspired to invite them to perform on the song because of their confidence, describing them as "legends".

[11] At the time of the song's recording, Lil' Sophia was a youth ambassador for Rhyme Island and helped the other children write their lyrics.

[13][9] "The Spark" is an upbeat and motivational Irish hip hop[7] song with a "bouncy"[14] drum and bass[3] beat produced by PapaPedro (released separately as an instrumental under the title Titan), on which both groups rap about expressing their creativity.

[20][16] "The Spark" soon went viral on TikTok after its music video was reposted by a popular account on the platform, receiving over seven million views by June 2024.

[5] It was also discussed on NPR, on the American TV series After Midnight, and in NME, and used in videos by social media accounts for Teletubbies and McLaren.

[2] Madison Malone Kircher of The New York Times wrote that "The Spark" "could have easily sounded grating to adult ears", but was "instead unrelentingly catchy".

[19] Mike Hadge jokingly wrote for The Daily Dot that "The Spark" was good enough that there was "just no point anymore" for any other musicians to continue working.

[20] In early June 2024, a video by Taoiseach Simon Harris for his centre-right political party, Fine Gael, encouraged people to vote for the party's candidates in the Limerick mayoral, European Parliament, and Irish local elections, with "The Spark" playing in the background and a reference to the song in its caption.

[25] Far-right social media users responded to Fine Gael's usage of the song by criticizing the Irish government's policy on immigration.