Does Naomi Ackie Actually Sing or Lip Sync in Whitney Houston Movie? She Responds...

Naomi Ackie plays the role of iconic singer Whitney Houston in the new movie I Wanna Dance With Somebody and fans are probably wondering if that’s actually her singing in the film.

Whitney was known to be one of the greatest singers of all time, so that would be huge shoes to fill if Naomi were to lend her own voice to the movie.

So, does she? Naomi is speaking out about the vocals in the movie.

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Naomi told People, “My singing voice was only for moments that needed to be filled, like an emotional beat. So that’s why the beginning singing in the gospel choirs was me and then you hear this change so that we know it’s Whitney. Because we don’t have Whitney with us, there is a kind of request from the audience to suspend their disbelief for the duration of the film.”

She told Yahoo UK, “I sing the first song that you hear in the film, when she’s a big younger and needed to be refined. But most of it is Whitney. I just sing for the dramatic beats, so I sing in one of the office scenes, when she’s choosing a track. But I don’t do it too much. 97.9% of it is Whitney!”

Director Kasi Lemmons says that Naomi really does have a great singing voice though!

“I was compelled by the idea of doing the movie because I had known [Houston] and because of how I felt about her, but Naomi made it an easy ‘Yes,’ because her screen test was brilliant,” Kasi told People. “She was just so good. She sang in the screen test and she sang the same range as Whitney, and I thought, ‘Oh, this allows for some interesting film possibilities.’”