6 Must-See Artists to Catch at Breakaway Philadelphia

JULY 13 2025

By Aleisha Flores

Breakaway Music Festival has become well-loved among EDM fans for bringing some of the hottest DJs on the scene around the U.S. Now, the festival is expanding its footprint with a Philadelphia debut from September 12-13 with headliners like Zedd, Excision, Cloonee, Of The Trees and Two Friends. The lineup is stacked with 21 touring acts and three local artists including FREQ, who opened for Mr. Carmack at Otherworld Philly back in January. 

The festival boasts some big names, but here is our curated list of DJs who are bringing the heat to Breakaway Philly.

Z3lla

Best friends turned collaborators Julia “Juj” Seeley and Kiana Tebyani make up the DJ-singer-songwriter duo known as Z3lla. The two have been making a name for themselves in an industry notoriously dominated by white men. Z3lla puts their unique spin on UK house music by pulling inspiration from their respective Brazilian and Persian heritages. 2024 saw the duo hit #2 on the Billboard Dance chart with their single “Why Should I?”, a collab with ARMNHMR called "Moments", and open for Kaskade at the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Miami. They’re definitely on the come-up, so be sure to stop by Z3lla’s Breakaway set for a good time.

Night Tales

Hailing from Australia, Kamaliza Salamba and Aaron Bannie have joined forces to form Night Tales, a musical experience that transcends just producing party beats. Their performances aren’t limited to the decks – Salamba and Bannie both sing and play instruments live. Their goal is multifaceted: emotions and themes of interpersonal relationships are at the forefront of their songs. Night Tales has said that they also wanted to “bring more eyeballs to electronic music from the Black perspective,” and their unique blend of house, R&B and soul is doing just that. Breakaway Philly will see Night Tales doing their new set style called CLR, which stands for “Color. Love. Rhythm.” — expanding their performance style to include local musicians and dancers. 

ACRAZE

Even if you don’t know ACRAZE by name, you’ve probably had his music stuck in your head at one point. His house remix of Cherish’s “Do It To It” was arguably the biggest hit of 2021, continues to be a viral TikTok sound and is close to hitting a billion streams on Spotify. ACRAZE went from being an underground DJ to a world-renowned name in a year, earning a Vegas residency, collabs with big names like Tiësto and Calvin Harris and opportunities to remix hits like Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy.” All my ladies better head to Breakaway Philly to pop yo backs at ACRAZE’s set.

GUDFELLA

Cebu, Philippines-born and San Diego-raised Kyle Domingo – better known as GUDFELLA – is probably best known for collabing with Tiësto and NIIKO X SWAE for a hit trance remix of Tears for Fears’ 1984 “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” Since then, he has produced earworms with the likes of Bipolar Sunshine and Disco Lines. But his talent doesn’t lie in his collabs alone. GUDFELLA regularly sings on his own tracks, which touch on personal themes of life, love and relationships. After a solid run at festivals like Lollapalooza, Project GLOW, and HARD Summer in 2024, you can expect similar good vibes at GUDFELLA’s Breakaway set.

ROSSY

Rossy Etbauer, who goes simply by ROSSY onstage, has been breaking boundaries as a woman in dance music. She has come a long way from her days of experimenting with turntables as a student at Chico State University to sharing the stage with names like Pauline Herr, RL Grime, Zeds Dead and Illenium. ROSSY’s highly anticipated 2023 debut EP “HEAVENS DOOR” ensnared listeners with its dreamy, angelic take on trap and future bass blended with classical music. Stop by her set to get transported into the clouds.

Control Freak

Rounding out the list of must-see artists is Control Freak, who has become a cult favorite among trap and dubstep lovers. Last year, he toured with RL Grime, Ray Volpe and Blanke and has been on a streak of releasing heat with tracks like “POWER,” “Street Talk” and “WE RUN THIS.” Control Freak’s energetic sets at Lost Lands, Beyond Wonderland and the Sable Valley tour have had the crowd jumping nonstop, so if you need to rage out at Breakaway Philly, you know where to go.

Tickets to Breakaway Philly are now available starting at $160 for two-day general admission and can be purchased here. There’ll be more fun to be had with official afterparties to be announced soon!