Viral drum ‘n’ bass track created by Irish youth group longlisted for GRAMMYs 2025

A viral drum ‘n’ bass rap track created by a group of Irish children has been longlisted for two GRAMMY awards.

'The Spark', created by youth groups the Kabin Crew and Lisdoonvarna Crew, launched last May and has amassed over two million streams — and now is in the running for Best Dance/Electronic Recording category and Song of the Year for the 2025 GRAMMYs

The GRAMMY judges are currently finalising the shortlist, with the results scheduled to be announced on November 2. The awards will subsequently take place in Los Angeles on February 2 2025, marking the prestigious event’s 67th edition.

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Announcing the news on Instagram, GMCBeats, the producer behind the track said: “What a mad few months this has been! A song that we created for the @rhymeisland initiative with the crew of legendary kids and tutors at @thekabinstudio and in Lisdoonvarna is longlisted for the Grammys!!”

The Rhyme Island initiative was a project run by Kabin Studio last summer as part of the Cruinniú na nÓg festival, an annual event championing young creativity.

Kabin Studio was founded by GMCBeats (real name Garry McCarthy) as a non-profit organisation offering music workshops to young people. It is located in a repurposed shipping container in the Knocknaheeny area, a suburb of Cork.

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All the children involved in the song and associated video are aged between nine and twelve and live in the Knocknaheeny area, including a group who live in refugee accommodation in Lisdoonvarna.

Since its release, the song has gained worldwide attention from the likes of BBC News, The Guardian, The New York Times and Time, as well as being praised by Stormzy, Becky Hill, and Tove Lo.

Its success led to the Kabin Crew and Lisdoonvarna Crew performing at Electric Picnic and All Together Now festivals in Ireland, as well as to a crowd of 12,000 people at Pukkelpop in Belgium.

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The video, which has over 6 million views on Youtube and 9 million on Twitter, was filmed in one day by Seán Downey. It depicts the children dancing on a bus and at Cork's Pavilion Music Venue.

Watch it below

Meena Sears is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Instagram