Spark (Tori Amos song)

"Spark" is a song by American singer-songwriter Tori Amos, released by Atlantic and EastWest Records as the first single from Amos' fourth studio album, From the Choirgirl Hotel (1998). It peaked at number 49 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, making it her highest-charting single in the US.

Background

Amos wrote "Spark" after suffering a miscarriage. She discussed the song in an article from Q magazine in May 1998.

Critical reception

British magazine Music Week wrote, "Tori bursts back onto the scene with this powerful first single from her forthcoming album From the Choirgirl Hotel. Her trademark piano is there but the addition of a band, drums, loops and electronic effects add a further dimension. It's a very fine, multi-layered song which will see her first return to the chart since the 'Professional Widow' remix smash."

Music video

Amos requested the video for "Spark" to be directed by James Brown, who originally had a different idea for the video that Amos disliked; she requested wanting something "where a girl has a will to live." The video was shot in Dartmoor, South West England and took three days to finish.

The music video for "Spark" garnered critical acclaim, and was ranked 61st on Slants "100 Greatest Music Videos of All Time". Sal Ciquemani, from Slant, gave the video a positive review, noting that "Amos’s musical images are potent and rarely sufficiently enhanced by the music video format, but “Spark” is a rare exception, serving as a visual metaphor for the singer’s recent miscarriage. Amos plays a blindfolded kidnap victim who squirms her way out of her captor’s car trunk and must trust her instincts to guide her through a dense forest. Her character tiptoes her way toward a river’s edge, submerging—and subsequently unshackling—herself beneath the murky, amniotic waters. "