The lead single, Shine On, gives listeners Cabrera's typical pop stylings with a rather positive twist on a break-up. Rather than moaning and groaning about the end, Cabrera lets the girl know that You were made to shine on/And you know I love you. He doesn't sit back and cry, he insteads offers encouragement and hope to his now ex-partner. If that's not the sign of a real man, then I don't know what is.
Cabrera also mixes up the stylings a bit on this disc. On Our Story, he actually uses a latin flavor throughout the track that seems to work pretty well. Most tracks are pretty typically pop, including With You Gone and the opening track of the disc, From The Start. But the beauty of these tracks is that Ryan still keeps them interesting lyrically and vocally, even though much of his stuff has probably been said in other songs many times over. For whatever reason, Cabrera's stuff just hits a chord a bit better than most other stuff out there.
The two best tracks on the disc are probably Photo and the closing track, It's You. Photo is a track that's almost a poppified version of Nickelback's latest single, Photograph, only it's a bit more positive. The contrast of a relationship that seems to have gone missing and the hope that it can still exist somewhere down the road just seems to work on this track. And while the last line in the chorus (Maybe one day, you and me will have one more shot) may be a cheesy pun on the title, once again, it just works with this song. It's You is a different track. It's a slower track based almost solely on a piano melody. The lyrics are a pleading of sorts, a begging for the recognition that Baby, it's you when I look up in the sky. Ryan just sells this song really well and totally takes it from what could've just been a decent track into something spectacular.
Overall, You Stand Watching is an extension of what Cabrera did on Take It All Away. You can find a bit of growing up in these lyrics, and you continue to hear things that make it clear why he became so popular in the first place and will continue to become even more popular with this release. A solid disc all the way around.