"Let Me Down Gently" was written by Elly Jackson, Ben Langmaid and Ian Sherwin, and produced by Sherwin and Jackson. It is a
synth-pop ballad, opening with a "steady electronic beat", which builds up towards a brief moment of silence, followed by a "euphoric, cathartic barnstormer, complete with skyscraping sax solo" at the end of the track.
Billboard noted that "the track expertly raises in intensity until abruptly shutting off". The song's lyrics tell about a relationship
breakup, and Jackson delivers them in vocals described as "pained and aloof". "Let Me Down Gently" premiered on
Zane Lowe's
BBC Radio 1 show on 12 May 2014 and was made available to stream online on the same day. The track was also available as an instant download with the
pre-order of
Trouble in Paradise. The song received positive feedback from music critics.
Prins Thomas and
George FitzGerald produced
remixes of the song which were uploaded onto La Roux's official
SoundCloud page, but were never released on other platforms. ==Music video==