Maggie Rogers Revisits ‘Alaska,’ Tackles Sinatra Classic On ‘Late Show’
Watch the singer-songwriter perform the song that put her on the map and a jazz standard on Monday’s episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
By Scott Bernstein Apr 2, 2026 • 6:58 am PDT
Maggie Rogers brought the song that launched her career and a sultry jazz curveball to The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, performing her breakthrough hit “Alaska” alongside a heartfelt cover of the Frank Sinatra-popularized “One For My Baby (And One More For The Road).”
2026 marks 10 years since “Alaska” went viral after Pharrell Williams was floored when Rogers played him her song during a master class held at NYU. Maggie Rogers returned to New York City on Wednesday to perform a fresh, acoustic version of the song backed by a string quartet, Bryn Bliska on piano and Louis Fouché and Jon Lampley from Colbert house band The Great Big Joy Machine.
Maggie Rogers seamlessly pulled off a genre pivot to jazz saloon blues for “One For My Baby (And One More For The Road).” Originally written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer for Fred Astaire to perform in the 1943 film The Sky’s The Limit, Frank Sinatra first recorded the song four years later. It was his 1958 recording on Only The Lonely that became the definitive take on “One More For My Baby.”
Rogers channeled both Sinatra and Bette Midler on her version of the jazz standard. The stripped-down piano-led performance was laced with emotion thanks to Maggie Rogers’ smoky timbre on such lyrics as “This torch that I found must be drowned.”
Watch Maggie Rogers’ latest appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert below:
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