Do I have to resubscribe to premium to use voice controls on iOS?

[pecheckler]

edit: April 13 2018: Updating iOS resolved the issue. The voice control doesn't work from the lock-screen and requires unlocking and 1 to 3 taps depending on where you are within the app... so not exactly as safe as siri while driving. 

Do I have to resubscribe to premium to use voice controls on iOS? I ask because it always just says ""I didn't catch that".  I can't even get the initial example of "play today's top hits" to work with voice control.

TLDR^

Two months ago I unsubscribed from spotify premium after many years because I was tired of waiting for siri voice controls. I have an iphone and apple watch and want to experience these for safety while driving and ease of selecting music. Now after two months of dealing with the terrible experience that is Apple Music (and the archeic itunes software on Windows) I see that Spotify has a voice control feature for select users. I logged in on my phone and see I am one of those users... probably due to my reason I gave when unsubscribing... which was exclusively due to lack fo voice contols. I find literally every other feature of spotify superior to Apple music from the interface, navigation, suggested music.. to the black background (can you believe itunes still is full-screen bright-white only after 17 year?)

Aaanyway... I have deleted spotify on my iPhone and re-installed it but each and every time I try the voice control is says "I didn't catch that". I allowed microphone access. I'm using iOS 11.2.1. I've been trying for an hour and cannot get it to recognize 1 word I saw despite siri recognizing every word I say perfectly (despite siri almost always playing the incorrect playlist or album I ask it to).

So my question is... do I have to reactivate spotify premium to use voice controls? Or is it just so experimental it doesn't work at all?  I would ditch Apple Music subscription (even with 2 free months left) and pay for spotify premium again in a second if this voice control worked and was accessible from the iPhone lock screen. I'm assuming it's supposed to be accessible from the lock screen like siri is? Otherwise it wouldn't be very safe to use while driving.