Songfacts®:

• This song was inspired by refugees that Editors frontman Tom Smith encountered. "I wrote the words to 'Hallelujah (So Low)' when I got back from a trip with Oxfam, visiting refugee camps in Northern Greece," he explained. "It was obviously an incredibly moving trip, seeing people living in dust, surviving only on the help of others was very moving."
• "Hallelujah (So Low)" features an aggressive synth-rock sound. "Musically the track hung on the relationship between the acoustic guitar and the drum machine, that was part of the track from my demo, it had something special very early on," Smith explained. "Then when Justin came up with his outrageous guitar riff we knew we had a winner. It's the most 'rock' we've ever been and it's exhilarating."
• Editors teamed up with longtime collaborator Rahi Rezvani for the song's dramatic performance-based video.
• "Hallelujah (So Low)" was partly influenced by the call to prayer reverberating around the city of Istanbul. The Editors commented to Consequence of Sound regarding its sound:
  
  "This song goes from tight and rhythmic to expansive and shimmery. It's then slapped round the face with a gigantic guitar riff, which sounds like it's possibly being played by Dimebag Darrell and Skrillex at the same time. Heavy."