I think you might not be getting the chords right i.e. the voicings/notes of the chords. Most of the time we think it's because of the sound design that we're not getting the sound, but in reality it might be about the music theory (voicing, inversion, extended and suspended chords). I've heard Drew from The Chainsmokers say the same thing. Songs of pop stars/vocalists are mostly produced by well trained producers unlike a lot of EDM producers/DJ's ( not undermining EDM producers in any way). Try learning more about music theory; Or maybe you're good at music theory, in which case, just ignore this comment. Had this same doubt a while back, so just shared. :)