High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Cruel Summer is the third American album by Swedish pop music group, Ace of Base. When Flowers saw the sale of four million copies after its release in Europe, Asia and Africa on July 14, 1998, Arista Records decided to release their own version of the album in the US and Japan, re-titled Cruel Summer. It was the first album to see Jenny as the lead vocalist instead of Linn (who appeared as lead in their previous albums).