Juno Award-Winning Nominee and Legendary Singer/Songwriter Lisa Hartt Reclaims Joy With “I Got My Spark Back”

Submitted By

Cashbox Canada

Fri Sep 18, 2026

The first single from the forthcoming album The Longest Road turns loss, resilience and the irresistible pull of the dance floor into an anthem for beginning again.

Canadian singer-songwriter Lisa Hartt returns with “I Got My Spark Back,” the first single from her forthcoming album, The Longest Road—a joyful, defiant celebration of the moment when, after travelling through loss and darkness, you suddenly feel yourself coming back to life.

Written by Lisa Hartt and Kevin Fisher, “I Got My Spark Back” began with the simplest spark of an idea: What does it feel like when you finally turn the corner after a dark night of the soul?

Loss takes many forms. It can be the death of someone we love, the end of a relationship, the loss of a job, a financial setback, a health crisis, or simply the disappearance of the person we once believed ourselves to be.

Lisa Hartt Logo And then, sometimes almost imperceptibly, something shifts.
A song comes on.
Your foot starts tapping.
Your shoulders move.
And before your mind has even caught up, your body remembers joy.
That moment is at the heart of “I Got My Spark Back.”

“I wanted to write about that extraordinary instant when you realize the darkness isn't everything anymore,” says Hartt. “Music gets into your body before you can intellectualize it. Suddenly you're moving again. You're laughing again. You're interested in life again. You recognize yourself. I wanted to capture that feeling and shout it from the rooftops: Look at me rise up. Nothing can hold me now. I got my spark back.”

Producer, musician and co-writer Kevin Fisher took Hartt's original idea and helped turn it into an exuberant, groove-driven declaration of renewal.

“Kevin outdid himself on this one,” says Hartt. “I brought him the spark of the idea, and together we found this wonderful musical world for it to live in.”

Listen on Spotify here: open.spotify.com/track/78H1GU90i38zlad2bj4qdU

That world also reflects an important thread running throughout Hartt's forthcoming album, The Longest Road. Each song carries an affectionate musical reference to the sounds and genres that shaped her life, while remaining firmly rooted in Hartt's own contemporary songwriting voice.

For “I Got My Spark Back,” the musical wink is unmistakable: the glorious freedom and sensual pulse of the disco era, with a loving nod to Donna Summer and the music that once made an entire generation get up and move.

But Hartt isn't interested in nostalgia for nostalgia's sake.

She is interested in what those sounds can say now.

At 77, Hartt makes the song's message particularly powerful for women who have been told—explicitly or otherwise—that reinvention, visibility, sensuality, ambition and new beginnings belong to the young.

“I don't believe there is an age limit on getting your spark back,” Hartt says. “Women don't disappear because we get older. We still create. We still dream. We still fall down and get back up. We still want to fall in love. We still want to dance. And we still have something to say.”

The Longest Road traces a larger journey through grief, resilience, love, nature, memory and renewal. Rather than erasing what has been lost, Hartt's new music asks what becomes possible when we carry those experiences forward and choose to live fully anyway.

“I Got My Spark Back” is the sound of that choice becoming physical.

The beat arrives.
The body remembers.
The light comes back on.
And Lisa Hartt rises.

“Look at me rise up.
Nothing can hold me now.
I got my spark back.”

ABOUT LISA HARTT

Lisa Hartt is a Canadian singer-songwriter whose musical life spans more than six decades. From her beginnings in Canada's folk and rock scenes to her continuing work as a recording artist, writer and performer, Hartt brings a lifetime of experience to songs about love, loss, resilience, belonging and the courage to begin again.

Her forthcoming album, The Longest Road, continues that journey through a collection of original songs that honour the musical sounds that shaped her while speaking from the perspective of the woman and artist she is today.

You can Listen to Lisa Hartt’s last album here: lisahartt1.bandcamp.com/album/hiraeth

“I Got My Spark Back”
Written by Lisa Hartt & Kevin Fisher
From the forthcoming album The Longest Road

Full Interview here: How Lisa Hartt Got Her Spark Back!

Rock History Canada https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ3IWDw8z1Q