"Santa Maria" (サンタマリア^?) is the debut major label single by Japanese musician Kenshi Yonezu, released on May 15, 2013. It was Yonezu's first release on Universal Music Japan, and features a musical shift to using a live band.

In May 2012, Yonezu released Diorama, his first album and first to use his own vocals. It was released under independent label Balloom. The album was written, produced and illustrated entirely by Yonezu himself. The album was commercially successful, debuting at number six on Oricon's albums charts, and was one of the most sold independently released albums of 2012 in Japan.

After finishing the album, Yonezu spent many months at home. After completing a childhood dream of releasing an album, Yonezu felt burnt out and was unsure what to do next. He first created the song "Hyakki Yakō," and intended to make a music video for it. He later did not feel it was the right direction, so did not release it. In August 2012, Yonezu uploaded a song "'Anata wa Minikui" (あなたは醜い^?, "You're Ugly") to SoundCloud, but it was later deleted before his major debut.

Yonezu first announced the single on Twitter on March 9, 2013. That he was debuting under major label Universal Music Japan was announced on April 2, 2013.

"Santa Maria" was made approximately a year after Diorama, and was inspired by Yonezu's time spent by himself at home. The song and its B-side "Hyakki Yakō" were the first time Yonezu worked with a band. He decided to work with a band for his major debut as he enjoyed a band sound, and was searching for musicians who had similar ideas as himself. He felt he would have difficulties finding these kinds of people outside of a major label, so took up an offer from Universal. Another reason he decided to work with band members was to get used to other people's opinions and nuances added to his music, something he did not have to do when making Vocaloid music, or when he worked on Diorama. Yonezu, while finding it difficult to express his opinions and ideas properly, also felt constricted by working by himself, as too much freedom caused little work to get done. He likened working with a band to being "thrown into an unknown country." "Santa Maria" was written about his decision what to do musically, after a long period of being unsure how to progress after Diorama. He took the phrase "Santa Maria" for the song due to its associations with holiness and purity to illustrate this new-found direction.

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