Santa, born Samanta Cotta in Nice in 1991, spent over a decade fronting Hyphen Hyphen, the electropop band she started with school friends, singing in English and picking up a Révélation scène de l'année award along the way. She grew up around music: her mother sang in the 1980s group Daisy Duck, and by 2016 Santa herself was coaching on The Voice Belgique.
In 2022 she switched to French and went solo, and the gamble paid off fast. Her first single, Popcorn salé, went diamond, and her debut album, Recommence-moi, topped the French charts and went double platinum, with its title track also certified diamond. She has since joined the charity supergroup Les Enfoirés, performed at the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paralympic Games, and won Album of the Year at the 2025 Victoires de la Musique.