In May , 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. 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. Yonezu first announced the single on Twitter on March 9, 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 that he would have difficulties finding these kinds of people outside of a major label, so took up an offer from Universal. He took the phrase "Santa Maria" for the song due to its associations with holiness and purity to illustrate this new-found direction. Despite this, Yonezu found the final versions of songs did not differ much from the demos. Yonezu used it to contrast to the rest of the song, because he feels that "beautiful things need to be dirty.
The lyrics talk about a relationship between the writer and a woman, Santa Maria. They are together, but separated by a "pane of glass.
Despite that, there is "a single candle" burning in Santa Maria, and he still wants them to go "towards that light. The lyrics talk about late night drinking, and says that we have become the demons in the parade today. Yonezu performed the song for the first time on Internet streaming service Ustream on June 15, The music video was first uploaded on April 23, , and was directed by Perfume and Sakanaction collaborator Kazuaki Seki.
The video also features a picture book, filled with personally drawn illustrations of the song. The video is shot in a grey room, where Yonezu wearing a flower wreath and long hair covering his face sits down to read a picture book.
