New Girl had a couple of cameos from big celebrities, especially musicians, among those Taylor Swift, but her presence in this universe ended up creating a plot hole. Created by Elizabeth Meriwether, New Girl made its debut on Fox in 2011 and lived on for a total of seven seasons, coming to an end in 2018. New Girl was very well received through its whole run, with special praise for its tone and the performances of its main cast, particularly those of Max Greenfield and Jake Johnson, who became the breakout stars of the series.
New Girl followed Jess Day (Zooey Deschanel), a young, bubbly teacher who after finding out that her boyfriend was cheating on her, moved into a loft with three strangers she quickly found on the internet. It didn’t take long for Jess to move in, but adapting to a new roommate wasn’t a smooth process, but luckily, it all turned out great. Jess ended up becoming very close to Schmidt (Greenfield), Nick Miller (Johnson), and Winston (Lamorne Morris), and her best friend Cece (Hannah Simone) also joined the fun. The group was joined by a variety of characters throughout the series, including some interesting cameos by different celebrities.
Among those was Taylor Swift, who showed up in only one episode. Swift played Elaine in season 2’s finale titled “Elaine’s Big Day”, where she arrived at Cece and Shivrang’s wedding. In a very dramatic yet predictable sitcom move, Elaine was brought to the series to stop the wedding as she still had feelings for Shivrang, and this was the beginning of a chain of romantic confessions that ultimately led to the wedding being called off. Cece confessed her feelings for Schmidt, and Elaine left with Shivrang, but as funny as Swift’s presence in New Girl was to her fans, it created a plot hole as Swift, as the successful singer she is in real-life, also exists in this universe.
Fans have pointed out this inconsistency in New Girl on various platforms, and it’s one of the countless mistakes of this type in sitcoms. It’s not uncommon for TV shows to acknowledge real-life actors and celebrities and later have them in cameo appearances as fictional characters, thus leaving plot holes. In Swift’s case, she was mentioned in season 2 after Jess broke up with Sam, which sent her back to drinking wine, listening to sad songs, and crying, as she did at the beginning of the series. Jess tells the boys that she “just wanted to listen to Taylor Swift alone”, and that’s enough to create the plot hole. Elaine and Shivrang never appeared again, and it’s unknown what Taylor Swift looks like in the world of New Girl as no one recognized her at the wedding.
As mentioned above, this is a common “mistake” in sitcoms, as characters often mention actors and musicians as their favorites only for them to be magically unrecognizable when they make cameo appearances. New Girl wasn’t the first nor the last TV show to have this type of nonsensical celebrity cameos, but it’s a funny one given how important Taylor Swift was to Jess, especially during hard times.