Mabel says the world still has a long way to go in terms of racial equality.
The 24-year-old singer is mixed-race, with a black mother Neneh Cherry, and a white father, Cameron McVey, and she says that "there are still a lot of things going on in the world that really aren’t okay" when it comes to race.
Mabel told Fearne Cotton on ‘Sounds of the 90s’: "The event I want to talk about from the 90s is definitely Nelson Mandela being released from prison. That was in 1990, I was born in 1996 but it was definitely an event we talked a lot about growing up. I’m from a mixed family, my mum is black and my dad is white and growing up we were definitely made very aware of things that were going on in the world, things that had happened not that long ago. It’s still not long ago since that happened it’s so tragic, so sad and such a big lesson to the world and there are still a lot of things going on that really aren’t okay and we are far from there yet.
"But Nelson Mandela is one of the people that has really set the bar for bravery and I always really looked up to him. I remember just talking a lot about it with my parents and I’m so grateful now that I’ve had that at home. My mum is an artist; Neneh Cherry and she had the honour of performing for him at Wembley when he was released back in 1990 which is just one of the things that I’m so proud of, that my mum has done that. Such a big accomplishment, so that’s definitely something that I think was a big moment in the 90s that I will always think about and cherish."
Nelson also spoke about growing up as the child of musicians, explaining: "The place that reminds of the 90s is definitely the house that I grew up in. A lot of music was getting made there. My parents being musicians, my dad is a producer so I remember spending a lot of time in that studio and being really fascinated about what was going on in there.
"And then I think our kitchen, we all had such different tastes in music, me and my siblings. But there was a few that we all really agreed on like Miseducation of Lauryn Hill or D’Angelo records, Destiny’s Child, Aaliyah, anything Timbaland produced, Missy Elliot, things like that. Those records we would always put on in the kitchen and really enjoy together when we were eating dinner or when we were cooking…I think in that house where I grew up in is where I really found my love for music in so many ways."
‘Sounds of the 90s’ with Fearne Cotton is available to listen on BBC Sounds every Saturday and is broadcast on BBC Radio 2 every Friday from 11pm-1am.