Between her ability to speak just like Whitney Houston and her nearly being the spitting image of the late superstar, Naomi Ackie truly embodied every aspect of Houston in the 2022 film I Wanna Dance with Somebody. So much so that audiences wondered whether that was Ackie emulating Houston’s unique voice or if it was Houston all along.
Needless to say, we have some of the same inquiries, as we wouldn’t put it past Ackie to use her exceptional skills to mimic the voice of Whitney Houston to a T. But is it really Ackie using her voice? Or are there some editing tricks going on in the background to achieve some very convincing lip-synching?
Read on to learn the answers to these burning questions and more!
According to USA Today, Naomi Ackie does provide some of her singing voice in I Wanna Dance with Somebody. However, the majority of the singing is done by Whitney Houston. Ackie did lend her voice to the film to make her acting more believable. But since Houston has an exceptional voice, unable to be mimicked by most talented artists in our generation, the creatives behind the title thought it best to mix most of Houston’s vocals with a small portion of Ackie’s voice.
“We were very impressed that Whitney’s persona was being captured,” Clive Davis, the producer behind the 2022 title, expressed. “The (singing) voice, of course, will be Whitney’s. When it came to Whitney, we didn’t think anyone could capture her vocal genius, so it will be the Whitney voice in the film.”
You can see evidence of this in a clip from I Wanna Dance with Somebody below.
Davis wasn’t the first person to opt for using Whitney Houston’s voice in this biopic, as Angela Bassett decided to do the same in her 2015 directorial debut film, Whitney. The reasoning behind the decision was mostly the same, so it’s safe to say that if any other Whitney Houston biopics arrive in the future, we can expect a similar method by producers.
Even though it’s not Naomi Ackie singing your favorite Whitney Houston songs, that is, indeed, the United Kingdom actress portraying the beloved musician, so be sure to head to Netflix today to stream every single second of Ackie’s amazing performance in I Wanna Dance with Somebody.
dark. Next. Full list of Netflix movies confirmed for release in 2023
